Homecoming
by greendayjewels86
Summary: How can one day change the rest of your life? Danielle Turner is about to find out the day she meets her favorite punk rock band Green Day.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Green Day Concert"I can't believe that we are finally at a Green Day concert. Not only that but we might get lucky enough to meet them too." Said Dani. She was wearing her Green Day shirt and black cargo's with black sandals.

"Yeah Dani, you just like them because you think they are hot." Dani 's boyfriend Kevin said. Dani roller her eyes and looked at him.

"Sometimes I don't know why I stay with you. You have no respect for talent, Green Day has helped me though a lot of hard times. So be quiet and I don't only like them because they're hot. I like their music and more. But I can tell you're not listening to me and don't really care. so whatever." Dani's best friend Stacey spoke up

"Hey guys lets go over there." She pointed across a large stretch of grass to a patch close to the stage that had a few chairs. As they walked Stacey said,

"She's told you a million times why she likes them Kevin... why are you even here. You don't like Green Day and you look completely out of place." And she was right. This particular day Kevin had decided to wear his preppy clothes. Unlike his usual half preppy half punk look.

"I came her to make sure my girlfriend doesn't do anything stupid." Kevin replied looking at Dani. As they sat down to wait for the concert to start Dani finally registered what her boyfriend had said.

"What? What is that supposed to mean?" She questioned.

"Nothing really, you'll just end up doing something stupid to either embarrass yourself or get yourself into trouble, like always." Kevin stated like it was a fact. As he said this he looked around the area and watched as all the people filed in., noticing that almost all of them looked like they were completely punk-ed out. Dani suddenly looked at him saying

"You're an ass sometimes you know that." She looked really pissed off. Dani also had just realized how close to the stage they really were.

"You know we are really close, if we plan right maybe we can touch Billie Joe or something." Dani said turning to Meghan and Stacey.

Meghan looked at Dani " oh, that would be cool." Meghan was short and the same age making her and Dani the youngest of the group. Meghan was the sort of girl who didn't take shit from nobody, but she still had a soft sweet side.. She was also wearing her Green Day shirt with blue jeans and sandals. Stacey was dressed in her customary black and red outfit.

"Come on Dani, you know what I mean, you do stupid things, you always do something and think about the consequences later." Kevin said turning the topic away from the guys of Green Day.

Dani stopped talking to Meghan and Stacey, "I don't know what your talking about. The only time I do anything stupid is when I drink and I don't do that so much anymore."

Dani turned away from Kevin and back to the girls.

" Whatever Dani, you know you'll do something stupid. Like always. ' Kevin snapped.

"You know what Kevin don't talk to me the rest of the night. I don't know why I invited you in the first place." Dani said fuming.

Stacey then turned to her brother as she spotted something coming toward them from a distance away. " Kevin your just being mean because your jealous. you think that as soon as Dani sees another guy that is good looking in person she is automatically going to leave you for them. Which is completely ignorant. She's not like that."

Then Stace mumbled to herself " I don't know why she stays with you anyway. when she's not here you cheat on her."

Kevin heard her mumbling, "What Sis?"

"Nothing ," Stacey replied with hast all the while hoping that Dani didn't hear what she ad said. Dani of course had heard as she was standing right there. But she decided to kip it to herself for now. She would talk to Stacey about it later.

Right now all Dani wanted to do was get pumped for the concert. Suddenly all four heard someone shout.

"DANI!" and a black blur raced past and tackled Dani, knocking her to the ground.

"Hey Sis, it's nice to know you would wait for your only brother, whom you love so much." Derek said.

"Derek we told you where we were going." Dani said while laughing and wiping he grass and dirt off of her clothes. After getting off of the ground Derek went and gave his girlfriend Meghan a kiss on the cheek. "Derek, you have something on your face." Dani pointed out. " Let me get it Meghan said. She reached up to his eye and removed a blade of grass form his eyebrow ring.

"Hey guys, I think the concert is about to start. Stacey said . Just as she spoke music started to play and people started yelling. Billie Joe, Mike and Tre all came out and got in their places along with the rest of the band. Billie stood behind the Microphone with his hands on his hips looking out at the crowd. (think bullet in a bible) The crowd went wild as they began to play American Idiot.

"This is so awesome." Screamed Dani over the noise, as she sang along. "NO kidding, look at Kevin." Stacey said as she glanced at her brother.

Dani looked over to see Kevin glaring at Billie Joe as he sang Jesus of Suburbia. "Jeez, I'm really glad we brought him." Dani thought.

From her point of view she could see Tre and his drums perfectly. Billie Joe had just introduced Tre to the crowd while he played one of his drum solos. All of the gang minus Kevin jumped around and screamed and yelled. Before they knew it the concert was over.

As they walked out of the arena Dani saw that Tre was watching everyone leave so she decided to yell at him. "I love you , Tre." At this Tre looked at her and smiled. Kevin became pissed off and grabbed her arm which she jerked outside they all looked at Derek.

"What?" He asked once he noticed everyone staring at him.

"Ummmmm... Where are we parked?" Dani asked.

"Yeah babe, you parked the car. Did you forget already?" Meghan asked.

"oh yeah I kinda snuck the car into a really good parking spot." Derek said pausing for affect.

"Where is it?" Dani asked getting impatient.

"Well, we have to walk through the tour busses to get to the car, so who know maybe we will run into the band." Derek replied.

"I didn't know you were that smart D" Meghan said as she gave him a kiss and started walking toward the tour busses. They were all walking along and talking amongst themselves when Dani (who was in front) suddenly stopped causing Derek to run into her.

"Dani! What the hell? Why did you stop?" Derek said loudly bringing their presence to the attention of anyone around.

"Well, I stopped because Green Day are sitting right there." Dani said pointing at least a few yards ahead of them.

The guys had just finished one of their best concerts in their opinion. They were all sitting out in front of their busses when they heard someone yell.

"Dani, What the hell? Why'd you stop? " Causing all three to look up from whatever they were doing. They saw a group of about 5 people standing a few feet away.

"Great, and right after the concert too. "Billie Joe said.

"Maybe they'll walk on by." Mike said as the group began walking toward them. Slowly they got closer and closer to them. They stopped again a few feet away from them and one of the girls came up to them.

"We're sorry to bother you but we wanted to say what an awesome concert that was. We've been listening to you guys forever and wanted to really say thank you for dong what you do." After a few minutes she started to turn away to go back to her group of friends. Then Tre spoke up recognizing her as the girl that yelled at him after the show.

"What's your name?" He asked. " Danielle but all of my friends call me Dani." She said pointing back the group.

"Dani, do you want us to sign anything." Mike said. "If you wouldn't mind we would love that." With that said all of her friends grouped behind her, except one guy who hung back. Dani saw Billie Joe raise an eyebrow.

"He's not a fan." Dani said. "oh, " Was Billie's only reply.

"your lyrics really touch me and the songs have helped me though many tough times." Dani Said as Billie took her copy of American Idiot and signed it.

"Thanks, that's always great to hear , we always hope that our music will help to inspire at least one person." Billie replied handing Dani back her CD. Dani moved on down to where Mike was seated as Stacey began to talk to Billie. As Mike began to sign her CD she started talking about the bass guitar.

"Oh, do you play?" Mike asked. "No I don't play, but my brother Derek does."

"Which one is he?" Mike asked looking at Kevin.

"Definitely not him, my brother is the other guy. He plays really well, but he is always looking for advice. He might ask you for some."

Dani said as she picked up her CD. "Thanks."

"I'll talk to him." Mike said nodding toward her brother. Dani then moved down to were Tre was. Anyone who know Dani knew how much she admired Tre. She was so nervous about meeting him. Dani had always wondered what this would be like, meeting her favorite drummer, not to mention the best drummer in the world. As Dani moved toward him he looked up with his blue eyes and got a goofy grin that you could only associate with Tre Cool. Tre watched her as she drew close. 'She's really cute.' he thought s she stepped in front of him.

"Hi, Tre." Dani said breathlessly.

" Hi, what t can I sign for you?" He asked . Dani put their CD in front of him. He could see Mike and Billie's signatures. " Dani then started talking..

" I just want to say I think you're awesome and I was also wondering if you would sign my drum sticks? I never go anywhere without them . So they're really important to me."

"So you play the drums ? That's awesome." Tre said as Dani shook her head to the affirmative. "How long have you played?" He asked wanting to see exactly how much experience she may have.

" Well, I'm 23 now and I really started playing when I was 12 so about 11 years now. My parents though I needed an outlet for all my energy so they bought me a drum set for my birthday. I always liked music and my dad liked the drums so he convinced my mom to buy them. I always wanted to start a band but I couldn't choose between playing the drums and singing.." Dani stopped talking realizing that she was rambling.

"You sing too? That great, well her you go Dani." Tre said handing her drum sticks back to her.

"Thanks Tre." Dani said while blushing. "Your welcome. He replied his smile getting walked away from Tre with a wave and a smile . As she got closer to Kevin he asked her "What the hell was that? You were flirting with him."

"I was not, you're just jealous and don't touch me. I'm still mad at you." Dani said. They both stood off to the side waiting for the other to get done. When they were all finished they waved one last time and made their way back to Kevin's Jeep Cherokee.

"That was cool." Said Derek "Mike gave me some advice on playing he bass. Thanks for saying something Dani."

"No prob bro. Anything for you. Dani replied as they reached Kevin's car and all piled in. Kevin dropped the four off at the airport and he then went home. Dani, Stacey, Meghan, and Derek barley made their flight back to California in time. Once they were on the plane they all fell asleep thinking of what a great Day they just had.


	2. Chapter 2:Oakland, California

Chapter two : Oakland, California two months later

Dani slammed the door to the apartment she shared with Stacey and Meghan, as she walked in, causing Stacey to jump from the couch and Meghan to look up from the magazine she was reading.

"Damn, Dani you scared the shit out of me," Stacey said as she watched Dani storm Dani stormed through the living room she said

"Don't talk to me,: clenching her teeth she walked to the middle of the tiny hallway , which was adorned with Green Day memorabilia, and stopped.

"Sorry guys, I'm not mad at you I just need to play my drums for awhile. Then I will tell you all about it." She then promptly turned on her heel and stomped into her room. Slamming her door in the looked at Meghan with her eyebrows raised as she her Dani began to play American idiot loudly on the drums.

"Whoa" she mouthed sitting back down on the couch, watching the television flipping through the channels.

"I wonder what happened?" Meghan said lifting her head up in thought.

"Who knows it could be anything..." Stacey said, she then adopted a thoughtful look, " yeah it could be Derek, Work, Derek, Kevin , work, Kevin, well, it's actually probably Kevin. They've been arguing a lot lately."

"yeah, I've heard them on the phone. It's horrible listening to them." Meghan replied turning her attention back to her an hour later both girls heard silence from Dani's room.

"Finally I could barley hear the TV.." Meghan stated staring at the screen. Both were watching the first DVD season of Desperate housewives. (For punk girls the really love this show.) This is the scene that Dani walked into.

"Hey guys sorry for my outburst earlier, its really been a trying day." She said as she flopped down on the couch next to Stacey.

"Let me guess... one word Kevin." Stacey questioned standing up in front of the couch. Which she thought better of since the subject was now on her brother she thought she better sit down.

"Yeah, the asshole." Dani mumbled through her fingers while she moved to the recliner that had obviously seen better days.

"What did he do now?" Meghan asked while still starting at the television screen.

"The ass called me at work and broke up with me. He said he had found someone else. Jerk, you know what else? I cried ! I swore I would never cry over a guy, yet I did it." Dani looked over at Staci noticing she wore a look of guilt.

"Really he was just telling me the other day how much he loved you and all that jazz." Stacey said still not meeting Dani's eyes.

"Well, if I remember correctly." Dani started, "at the Green Day concert a couple of months back, I heard you talking to Kevin. He said I would do something' stupid and get myself into trouble. Of course I don't know why he would say that. I don't know what he's talking about."

"Dani, your rambling." Meghan interrupted , still not taking her eyes off of the and Dani both glared at her. Feeling their eyes on her she looked up, "What? I was only trying to help." she said looking back at the TV. whit her hands up in surrender.

"Anyway, as I was saying, then you mumbled and I quote 'I don't know why she's with anyway your cheating on her'. Why didn't you tell me?" Dani asked as tears came to her eyes. She then continued."I didn't say anything because I was waiting for you to say something, but you never did. So then I thought that maybe I had imagined it. Until today."

By now Dani had silent tears running down her face, feeling betrayed by her best friend," When Kevin broke up with me, I could kind of understand. I mean I live here in Oakland and he lives in New York, We're on opposite sides of the continent. So it's the long distance. What I don't understand is why he couldn't stand up and be a man and tell me he didn't want to be with me any more. He didn't' t have to cheat on me. So at the moment I was hurt but now I'm just pissed off. Stace if you had told me this would have been over months ago. Why didn't you tell me?" Dani questioned once again looking Stacey in the eyes.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to get hurt. He had told me he was going to tell you. I just didn't think he would wait so long." Stacey said looking down at the floor.

"But I did get hurt. You hurt me. you're supposed to be my best friend. You should have just told me when he didn't." Dani argued.

"I know and I'm sorry, it will never happen again." Stacey said finally looking at Dani as she started to cry also."Ok, now give me a hug and all is forgiven." Dani said as she grabbed Stacey into a bone crushing hug.

"Ow , that hurts Dani." Stacey said as she struggled to get out of the hug."Learned it from Derek."

Dani smiled as she sat looked at Meghan, "So what's going on?" she asked pointed to the TV. that Meghan was still staring at. Meghan didn't answer She then looked at Stacey." Don't look at me I have no clue."

Both girls then looked over at Meghan."Megs!" Both girls said in started. "What?""What's going on? Stacey said pointing to the TV. yet looked back at them "I have no clue. I was listening to you two argue.""Oh," Dani said as Stacey said "That sucks. All three looked at each other and said "Damn." and started to giggle

The girls all watched the credits roll on the screen."Well, that was a funny movie."

Dani said as she stood up and pretended to flash the girls. "H's so bulgy, he's like a moose." She imitated a man off the movie making the others Derek came running into the apartment slamming the laughing Dani asked " Don't you knock?"

"No you know that. " Stopping Dani from making a sarcastic remark Derek held his hand up. " but I have some exciting news. It mostly includes just Dani and me but I think we can bring friends." He paused Dani was getting impatient wanting the news

"What is it, Derek?" waving her had impatiently."Well remember the Green Day concert a couple of months ago? Well, Dani mentioned to Mike that I played the bass and was wanting advice, lessons or whatever, so when I was getting my shit signed he gave me his cell number. He told me to call him for lessons. So I called him today and somehow he knew that Dani played the drums..."

"Oh, god Tre said something about me. I told him that I played the drums. He signed my drum sticks." Dani interrupted once again.

"Anyway as i was saying... He then said he wanted Dani and I to come over to Billie Joe's house and practice with them." Derek said completely out of breath and with wide eyes.

"Oh my god... are you serious? This is so cool. Of course we are so going . We'll have to take them." Dani said pointing to Stacey and Meghan.

"I mean come on Megs can sing and Stace plays the electric and acoustic guitar. So we can all learn something." She the girls looked at Derek, waiting for his answer.

" I guess, let me get the address. We'll go tomorrow."Meghan and Stacey looked at each other and squealed. They both gave Dani a high five. "Alright." They said. None of them could wait for the next day to arrive.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three: band practice pt one

Derek woke up early the next day. He looked over to see Meghan lying beside him. He then looked over past Meghan and saw 11:30 am showing in bright red lights from the alarm clock. 'Damn, slept to late again.' he thought to himself. Getting up slowly as not to wake Meghan he went out into the front room. When he reached the front room he looked for his bag and got out his cell phone and called Mike. The phone rang a couple of times before someone picked up.

"Hello."  
"Hi, is this Mike?" Derek asked wondering if he was actually doing this.  
"Yes, who is this?" Mike asked cautiously, thinking he would have to change his cell number again because some fan had got it. 'Of course if you stopped handing it out like candy you wouldn't have this problem,' he thought to himself.  
"Sorry this is Derek Turner, we talked yesterday. You said you wanted my sister Dani and I to come over for practice."  
"Oh yeah, you need directions don't you?" Mike asked  
"Yeah, I also had a question. My sister was wondering if her roommates Stacey and Meghan could come also. Stacey plays the electric guitar and Meghan sings. If that makes a difference." Derek asked hoping that Mike would say yes.

"Yeah that would be no problem." Mike replied.  
"Cool, dude hopefully we will see you in a couple hours." Derek said  
"Okay man, see you then." Mike said as they both hung up.

Derek looked at the clock and noticed that it was nearing 12:00 pm. He put his phone up and walked down the hall to the girls rooms. He then proceeded to bang excessively on each door.

Dani opened her door half asleep and a little angry for being waked up. "What the hell D.?"  
Derek just looked at her "Two words, Green Day."  
Dani's eyes suddenly got really big and she got a huge smile "oh yeah, let me get my drums."  
"Dani I'm pretty sure that they have drums." Derek said looking quite amused.  
"Right, let me get dressed then." She replied turning around and shutting her door in her brothers' face.

The other two girls hearing Dani and Derek talking got up and started getting around.

Even though the apartment had three bedrooms it only had one bathroom for three girls and sometimes one guy to share.

When Stacey came out of her room to start getting ready she found the bathroom door locked.  
"Dammit Dani! Now we're gonna be even later." Stacey stood on the other side of the door whining.  
"Stace, God didn't dam it, the beavers did. Plus, it's all yours. I'll put my makeup on in my room." Dani smiled walking into her room. She was really excited about seeing Tre once again.

Stacey looked at Dani's door and shook her head. She walked into the bathroom and took a shower. As Stacey walked into the bathroom Meghan walked out of her bedroom.

Meghan had showered the night before, so she went into the kitchen with Derek to find something to eat.  
"What time do we have to be there?" Megs questioned as she looked through the semi-bare cabinets.  
In about a half hour, it is now 1:00." Derek said looking down at his big black watch.  
"Shit." Megs said throwing her hands up. "There's nothing good to eat." She then walked out of the kitchen and yelled at Dani and Stacey to get their asses moving because she was hungry and they were running late.

Stacey and Dani are ready to go with 15 minutes to spare. Meghan insisted as they piled into Derek's car that they stop at McDonald's for food. Derek drove to McDonalds and got his girlfriends food. They ended up arriving at Billie Joe's at about 1:35. They were officially 5 minutes late.  
Green Day's P.O.V.  
"You know that they are going to be late right? I mean the guy has to wait on three girls." Mike said sitting down on Billie's couch next to Tre.

"True but you never know." Tre said taking a drink of his cola. Both Billie Joe and Mike looked at him.  
"What?" Tre said trying to look innocent and failing.  
" Tre dude, they're girls, women, whatever, it doesn't matter if they are punk girls or not they are going to take forever." Billie said smacking Tre on the back of the head as he walked behind him to get to his seat.  
"Ow! Billie that hurt you asshole." Tre said rubbing the back of his head.

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"Dad, Joey won't let me play on the WII with him." Jake complained as he came into the living room.  
"Well Jake it is his game. Why don't you go find Frankito and play a video game on your play station or go to the rec room?" Billie said trying to remedy the situation peacefully.

"But Dad, I want to play the game Joey's playing." Jake continued.

"Well, then you should save your allowance money and buy one for yourself." A voice came from the kitchen.  
Everyone looked up to see Adrienne standing in the archway.  
"Hey, Adie." Mike and Tre said  
"Hey guys." Adie replied

"Unfortunately Jake, I agree with your mother on this one." Billie said turning his attention back to his son.  
"But Dad," Jake started again  
"No buts," Billie said interrupting him. "We're going to have company over in a little while and I don't want you guys fighting and arguing.

"What time are they supposed to be here?" Adie questioned walking into the living room.

"In about 20 minutes, but we think they'll be late." Tre answered.

"Why?" She questioned.

"Because three of them are women." Tre stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So you're saying that women are always the reason for lateness?" Adie said baiting Tre. She knew that he would fall for it. He always did.  
Billie and Mike both smiled knowing that Adie had got Tre once again.

"Well not necessarily, but most of the time, yes." Tre answered slowly.

"If I remember right while you were still with Claudia you were late many times because you had to have your hair just perfect." She retorted smiling.

"Ok, ok I give." Tre said holding his hands up in defeat. "You're right Adie."

"Damn straight." she said turning back into the kitchen to put the groceries away.

"I still think they'll be late." Tre said after a moment.

After a few moments they heard a soft knock on the door.

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Regular P.O.V.  
Derek and the girls arrived at Billie's and sat in the drive for a few minutes waiting for Megs to finish her sandwich.

"So who's gonna knock on the door?" Derek asked looking up at the huge house.

"Not it." Stacey, Meghan, and Derek all said at once.

"I guess I'm it? I'll go knock on the door to make sure it's the right house." Dani said opening the car door. She got out and shut the door and looked up at the house. 'It's kind of intimidating.' she thought to herself.  
"Come on Dani, hop to it we're already late." Stacey said sticking her hand out to the window giving Dani a little nudge.  
"I'm going, I'm going." She said and slowly started walking to the front door. Looking back at the car once more she raised her hand and knocked softly. Thinking they probably hadn't heard her knock she raised her hand again to knock, when she heard "They're here." and it sounded like the excited voice of Tre Cool.

Danielle stood there waiting by the door looking back at the car when the door slowly opened revealing Billie Joe.

"Hey." Billie Joe said looking kind of confused.  
"Hey." Dani laughed and looked at the car again and shouted, "Guys come on, and it's the right house."

Billie laughed stepping back and opening the door more to allow Dani to walk past. He looked back at the car seeing the others grabbing their instruments and getting out of the car.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Band Practice Pt.2

Dani walked into the front room and was immediately attacked by Tre in the form of a bear hug. Dani felt a little uncomfortable. Even though she liked Tre and thought he was cool (no pun intended) she still didn't know him.

"Ummmm….Tre could you let go?" She asked quietly knowing he was the only one that heard. Tre slowly let go like he was a little reluctant. After he let go Dani whispered  
"Its not you, I just don't know you that well and I don't like to be touched a lot." She smiled to reassure him that she wasn't upset with him.

Tre told her she could sit down. That's when she finally looked around seeing Mike. She smiled at him; he smiled in return asking her how she was. "I'm doing really well, I'm kinda excited." Mike chuckled looking at a pretty woman with dreads.

"You must be Adrienne?" Dani questioned as if she was unsure.

"Yeah I'm Adrienne but you can call me Adie." She replied. She stepped a little closer to Dani like she was inspecting her but not in a rude overbearing way.

"Oh Ok. Thanks I'm Danielle but you can call me Dani." She said with a smile and shook Adie's hand.

All of the others filed in and introduced themselves. For awhile they sat around having drinks and talking about their music. Dani and Stacey needed to use the restroom. So after they got direction (Billie's got a huge house) they went on their way.

"I hope we don't get lost." Dani whispered.  
"I know right." Stacey agreed just as they walked into Joey's room.

Joey looked up from his game and saw two pretty girls walk into his room. Being 13 years old, he thought he was pretty lucky.

"Oh, God!" Dani said as she noticed where they were.

"Who are you?" Joey asked a little shyly.

"Well, I'm Stacey and the quiet one here is Danielle, we didn't mean to barge in. We were looking for the bathroom and got a bit lost." Stacey answered feeling a bit foolish for getting lost.

"Oh well the bathroom is the next door over." Joey said in the correct direction.

Both of the girls used the restroom and they quickly made their way back to the front room only to find everyone gone except for Adie.  
"Where'd everyone go?" Stacey asked.  
"Well, everybody decided to go to the basement to practice. I said that I would wait for you." Adie said smiling kindly.

"Yeah well we got lost trying to find the bathroom and found ourselves in Joey's room. I think we may have startled him a little." Dani said looking at a dark colored door of to the left of the couch.

"No, I don't think you scared him, you probably made his day. Two pretty girls walking into his room. He'll love it." Adie said smiling picturing what her son must have been like. He was after all just like his father. Coming out of her thoughts Adie said "Come on, I'll take you to the guys."

Adie walked over to the door that Dani had previously been looking at. "Just go down the stairs. They're all down there. Oh, by the way Dani, Tre has been raving about teaching you some things on the drums. He also wants to see what you already know but don't let him know I told you. I promised not to tell anyone. So make sure you surprise him." Adie said putting a hand out to direct them. "I'll be right behind you."

Stacey went first through the tiny door. You could hear the sounds of everyone talking, laughing or even playing their instruments. Stacey entered the room first closely followed by Dani.

"Finally, I've been waiting forever." Tre exclaimed. Everyone looked over at him. "I mean we've been waiting forever." He corrected, blushing a little.

Derek looked at Dani and saw that she was even blushing a little bit also. 'Something's going on.' he thought. But at that moment Billie Joe spoke.

"Okay here's what we want to do. Since you guys know each other and have for a long time I'm guessing. We want you to play us a song so we can see where everyone is at."

Dani, Meghan, Stacey, and Derek all looked at him. Dani's jaw even dropped. Meghan coughed. "Ummmm… what song do you want us to play?" Stacey asked.

"Well it can be any song………of ours that you want play." Mike declared smiling a little. All three guys looked at the group expectantly. "Now," Billie commanded.

"Right." Dani said jumping slightly and going to the drums. The girls looked at each other and then to Derek. "Don't look at me I'm not singing, she is." Derek said pointing to Meghan. Meghan looked faint. 'Oh god I'm going to be singing to Green Day one of their own songs.' She thought. She had been standing in front of the microphone, then she looked at Dani, she walked back to the drums whispering to Dani, "I don't know what song to do!"

"Well, which one is your favorite?" Dani asked, "That should be the one you sing. Since it's your favorite you'll be confident because you know it backwards and forwards." Dani looked at her.

"Ummmm….. I guess it would have to be Minority." She answered after thinking for a few minutes. Dani then clapped her hands and said, "Okay then. Guys we are playing Minority. So let's go."

Everyone took their places. Dani was at the drums, Derek was on the bass, Meghan was on vocals and Stacey was on electric guitar. All were silent until out of nowhere Dani counted off on the drums silently. The beginning played perfectly the guys could automatically tell which song it was they could tell that Dani, Stacey and Derek all knew what they were doing. Now they all waited on Meghan to begin to sing.

'I want to be the minority  
I don't need your authority  
Down with the moral majority  
'Cause I want to be the minority

I pledge allegiance to the underworld  
One nation under dog  
On which I stand alone….

I want to be the minority  
I don't need your authority  
Down with the moral majority  
'Cause I want to be the minority.

As soon as the last note quieted, the guys began clapping.

"That was amazing," Billie Joe said with Tre and Mike agreeing fully. "No one has ever done so well with one of our songs." Mike said. "In our opinion." Tre added as an after thought.

Meghan and the rest sighed in relief. They had thought they weren't doing the song any justice.

Each one complemented Meghan. When Tre and Mike were done giving Meghan tips they each went to other people. Mike went to Derek and Tre went to (you guessed it) Dani. Mike talked to Derek about his holding of the instrument Derek had basically taught himself how to play. Dani's father had taught her to play the drums.

Tre went over to Dani, who was still sitting behind the drums quietly looking at everyone, "Penny for your thoughts?" He asked quietly as he approached her. "Well, it's nothing really. I just never dreamed, well I dreamed, but I never thought this," She said holding her hands up and gesturing to the room and all the people. "Would happen." She finished looking at Tre who looked back at her. "Well, I guess your just lucky then."

"No, I just think I'm crazy. If I hadn't bothered you guys after the concert and asked for autographs none of this would have happened, to me, to us, you know?" She replied.

"Yeah, I completely understand, we used to feel like that when we first began and every once in awhile. So I understand." Tre agreed.

Dani looked up at Tre once more still in thought. Tre was going to say something until Dani started to speak, "You know that day, I was scared to death to talk to you. I was so afraid I was going to say something completely stupid. But I'm glad I did anyway because then I wouldn't have met you in a sense." She was still looking up at Tre.

For a moment Dani thought that Tre was going to kiss her but then he got a confused look on his face. "What's the matter?" She asked him, she was concerned that she had said something wrong.

"Nothing, just no one has said that before ever. I mean I do funny, stupid and outrageous things all of the time. So I never think that someone else would be worried by something like that. You know what I mean?" He replied still whispering quietly which as most know is hard for Tre to do.

Suddenly Tre and Dani were brought out of there conversation by Mike yelling at them from the door, "Hey lovebirds, let's go. We're going out to eat." Tre and Dani looked at each other and blushed smiling. They got up and followed Mike upstairs where everyone waited.

They walked into the kitchen to find Adie talking to a girl that looked like she was 16. Dani guessed she was the babysitter.

"Okay guys we have to decide where to eat. We have three choices: Citron, Garibaldi's, and Jack's Bistro." Billie rambled off. They all decided to go to Garibaldi's.

Everybody piled into two different cars. Billie, Adie, Meghan and Derek were in Billie's black Escalade. Mike, Tre, Dani and Stacey were in Mike's Jeep Liberty.

They all showed up at the restaurant and they were lucky they had a table to fit seven people. They ordered, enjoyed the food, the company and the atmosphere. Before they knew it the restaurant was closing down. Billie insisted on paying the bill for Dani, Megs, Stacey and Derek's part. Which they greatly appreciated, as they all could not afford that type of restaurant...

As they walked out of the restaurant DanI said, "Thanks Billie, you didn't have to pay for us." She was a little embarrassed.

"Hey, that's okay; we invited you it was only right that we paid for dinner." Billie replied while Adie shook her head agreeing.

Everyone piled back into the cars and headed back to Billie's house. Dani and Tre sat in the back of Mike's Liberty, while Dani convinced Stacey to sit up front with Mike by stating, "He doesn't bite," while Tre had to add ,"much."

Dani looked at Tre, "Thanks, and Tre now she will never willingly sit up there. She is very gullible." She smiled as she noticed Stacey roll her eyes and hop in the front seat leaving them alone.

Tre and Dani talked almost all the way to Billie's. They talked mostly about Tre's kids Ramona and Frankito.  
Tre was looking at Dani more like staring at her when she whispered, "What? Do I have something on my face?" He replied "No, I was just thinking how pretty you are." Dani blushed and as Tre realized he said that out loud he blushed also.

When they pulled up to Billie's house Dani realized that neither Stacey nor Mike had said one word the whole car ride.

They all said good night to everyone. They then piled into Derek's beat up ford Taurus, and started driving home.

"That was the best." Dani said quietly looking out the window at the houses passing by.  
"Yeah, it was awesome," Stacey agreed. Dani looked at her and smiled. "I hope it happens again." Dani said more to herself than anyone.

Meghan and Derek looked at each other and then at Dani and smiled. They both knew that Dani was falling.

But would she get to see Tre again? Only time would tell.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Before the Date!

The next morning Dani woke up with a smile on her face. She had so much fun yesterday. I mean she got to see Tre Cool AGAIN! Looking at her alarm clock she saw that it was only 9:00 am. Not wanting to get up yet she looked up at the ceiling and sighed. She saw the guys of Green Day staring back at her; of course it was only in the form of a poster, but still. She looked out the window, being the only one with a window has its advantages, and saw that it was another beautiful day in California.

She looked up at her stereo on top of her dresser along with a couple dozen CD's she grabbed the remote and turned it on. Automatically Holiday came out of the speakers quietly. She looked over at her computer desk, where she saw a picture of Tre. Smiling she hoped that something would happen today, something good. Her eyes slid from the picture to the stack of books on music and history.

'Shit! I forgot I have homework.' she thought. 'Guess I should get out of bed and work on that' Knowing everyone else was still asleep she sat down and began to read her 'History of the Modern World'. She read for 15 minute and started to write her term paper on Napoleon Bonaparte.

30 minutes later not only did she have her paper done but she had all her other homework done to. As she closed all her books her cell phone began to ring. Dani of course could hear her phone but finding it was a different matter. She heard it ring again and it sounded like it was coming from the bed.

So in her true fashion she grabbed the comforter and shook it, nothing. Throwing it on the floor she reached for her sheets which were green, compared to her black comforter these were her favorite, she grabbed them and shook them. Upon shaking them she heard a thump from the closet door. Setting down the sheets she went to the closet and picked up her phone. By then it had stopped ringing. 'Must not have been that important, if it was they will call back.' She thought. She set to work on making her bed

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Green Day P.O.V.

"Hey Mike!" Tre yelled from the kitchen to the living room where Mike was sitting. They were in Mike's house that morning. Adie had kicked them out stating that she wanted to spend some quality time with her husband. Which everyone knows what she was talking about?

"What Tre, there's no need to yell. My house isn't that big." Mike said as he walked into the kitchen and to the coffeepot to get more coffee. Filling up his cup he sat down at the kitchen table and looked at Tre waiting for him to continue.

"Man, I was wondering….do you have Danielle's number?" Tre asked not looking at Mike. He figured that Mike would really tease him like he normally did when Tre liked a girl.

Mike looked up from the table not believing that Tre had actually asked him that. Now Mike owed Billie 20 bucks 'Man, remind me never to make a bet with Billie again. He always wins.' Mike thought. "No, but I have her brother's number." He still couldn't believe that he lost 20 bucks over Tre.

"Cool, can I have it?" Tre looked at him with puppy eyes. , Like he would get the number any faster.

Mike opened his cell phone and searched through the numbers for Derek's. "Okay here it is 555-569-3251. Now you can call him and tell him you want to take his little sister on a date." Mike smiled evilly.

"Man that's not even right." Tre's voice shook at little at the thought of having to go through someone's brother (even though Tre is older than Derek). He grabbed the phone to call Derek. Pausing he looked back at Mike, "Do you think it's too early to call?"

Mike looked thoughtful, he looked up at the clock above the refrigerator and finally said "I wouldn't think so, it's almost 10:00am. So if he's not awake I guess you'll just have to wake him up."

"Okay, great. Here goes nothing." Tre began dialing.

"Tre, are you nervous?" Mike asked him with laughter in his voice

"Yeah so what of it, I really like this girl." Tre was beginning to get a little defensive, being the youngest of the group he got picked on in a friendly manner of course.

"Dude, don't get defensive I was just asking." Mike held his hands up in defense while Tre glared at him.

Tre waited for the phone to ring. On the third ring someone answered.  
"Hello?" The person asked.  
"Hi, is Derek there?" Tre asked his voice cracking a little bit. He was nervous a little more than he let on with Mike. He walked out on Mike's porch to talk.

"This is Derek. Who is this?" Derek asked wondering who would be calling him.

"It's Tre. Hey I was wondering if I could have your sister's phone number." He looked into the kitchen through the screen door. Turning back around he saw Billie pull up in the driveway.

"What's going on Tre? Who are you talking to?" Billie asked clapping him on the shoulder. Tre waved him off. "I'll tell you later man."

"Why?" Derek asked getting suspicious. Asking this he brought Tre back to the matter at hand.

"Well, I uhhhh," Tre cleared his throat, 'hoping to invite her to dinner." Tre decided that this conversation was not going to go well. He just had a feeling.

"Like a date?" Derek asked not letting Tre know that this was making him extremely happy for his sister anyway.

"Yeah, like a date." Tre said, not knowing that both Mike and Billie were listening carefully to his side of the conversation.

"Okay, man I'll stop messing with you. Her number is 555-569-3291. I bet you make her day when you call." Derek said grinning from ear to ear. He could just see Dani's face when Tre called.

"Thanks, I'm gonna call her now." Tre told him smiling. Both hung up.

As Tre shut the phone he let out a breath he had been holding. He really didn't think that Derek would give him the number. He heard Billie ask "Mike, where's my 20 bucks. I told you he would." Billie held out his hand.

"You told him I would do what?" Tre asked as he came back in the door. As he came in though the door he tripped over the door stop.

"Walk much Tre?" Billie asked. "He owes me 20 bucks because you called Dani already. I told him you really liked her and you would. He said you would wait a couple days."

"Am I that predictable guys?" Tre asked in disbelief. Both guys shook their heads yes. "I'm going to have to rectify this."

Tre walked back out onto the porch to call Danielle. He dialed the number and waited for it to ring.

It rang and rang until it finally went to voicemail. 'She's got a really pretty voice.' He thought. He snapped the phone shut not leaving a message. He tried again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Regular P.O.V.

Dani was still making her bed when her cell phone rang again. She put a pillow back on the bed before reaching for her phone. She flipped it open. She didn't recognize the number. She decided to answer it, having a feeling that she should.

"Hello?" She asked curiously. , holding the phone between her head and her shoulder. She continued to grab pillows and put them back on her bed.

"Hi, is this Danielle?" A voice that sounded very familiar to her asked. Dani stopped making her bed and turned to look at her picture of Tre on her desk. 'No way!' she thought.

"Yes, this is she. Who is this?" She hoped that it was who she thought it was.

"This is Tre." He said as he heard Billie behind him making kissing noises.

'He sounds kind of nervous.' Dani thought 'oh, god he's actually calling me….wait how did he get my number….wait I don't care. Tre's calling me.' Coming back to reality she realized Tre was waiting for her to say something.

"Hey Tre. What's going on?" She was so excited. She grabbed a pillow and clutched it and sat on the bed leaning back against the rest of the pillows and the wall.

"Nothing really... I was just wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me at my house tonight." Tre held his breath, waiting for her answer.

Dani couldn't believe what she was hearing. 'Tre just asked me on a date.' she thought getting up from the bed and started pacing. 'I thought that he was just in the moment last night, apparently not.'

"Yes, I would love too." She replied after beat of silence. "Do you want to meet somewhere?" Dani was kind of hoping he wouldn't want to pick her up. She didn't want him seeing her run down apartment. (She has apparently forgotten where Tre lived as a child.)

Dani could feel more than see Tre giving her puppy eyes through the phone. She could actually imagine the puppy eyes, picturing his beautiful blue eyes looking at her. Of course Tre was actually giving her the puppy eyes.

"Okay, how about 5:00 is that good for you?" Dani asked while she continued to pace. She needs to get out this new energy, but she couldn't play the drums because everyone was still asleep. "Oh wait, you need directions."

Dani gave Tre the directions to the apartment. She could hear the guys in the background laughing. She hoped they weren't making fun of Tre at her expense.

"Okay, so I'll talk to you later or actually I'll see you later." Dani said smiling she still couldn't believe she was going to go on a date with Tre Cool.

"Yeah, that will be great. See ya Dani." Tre said flipping Mike off for laughing at him.

As soon as they hung up Dani got a huge smile on her face and flopped down on her bed. Suddenly she jumped up and ran out of her room across the hall and into Meghan's room.

"Megs….Megs…wake up its 11:15; I've got something important to tell you." Dani shook Meghan trying to wake her. The only response she got was a groan.

"Damn it, Megs……" Dani stood there trying to think of a way to wake Meghan up. Looking around Meghan's bedroom she noticed how pink it was. 'How does Derek sleep in here?' She thought. Suddenly a light bulb went off in her head. She went back to her room and sat down behind her drum set. 'If Stacey isn't already up she is going to kill me.' Dani thought as she began to bang loudly on the drums making no rhythm whatsoever.

She went back to Meghan's room. Meghan hadn't even moved. Dani began to grin evilly as she came up with another plan. She left the room once again and walked toward the kitchen.

Walking into the kitchen she saw Stacey eating cereal at the table. "Morning Stace, did you hear my drums in here?" Dani asked cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah and I think the neighbors did to. It's Sunday you know." Stacey said as she watched Dani reach into the cabinet and grab a glass and fill it full of water.

"You're not going to do what I think you're going to do with that glasses of water are you?" Stacey asked dreading the answer even though she already knew the answer.

"I don't know. What do you think I'm going to do with this glass?" Dani questioned innocently. She failed at the innocent part because she kept smiling.

"You're going to take that water into Meghan's room and dump it on her and then she will proceed to kill you." Stacey replied with an all knowing smile. She had seen this happen one to many times.

"Yeah, well. I have some good news and I want to tell the both of you together." Dani then turned on her heal and walked out of the room.

Dani slowly tiptoed into Meghan's room once again so she wouldn't make any noise. She stood at the end of the bed and threw the water all over Meghan.

Meghan shot up out of bed spitting and sputtering when she noticed Dani standing there with the glass still in her hand.

Dani looked from Meghan to the glass and back to Meghan before she screeched. She ran from the room with Meghan sopping wet hot on her tail.

"YOU BITCH! I SHOULD KILL YOU!" Meghan screamed still chasing after Dani. They had done this too many times before for Meghan to be truly mad at the other girl.

Dani ran into the kitchen giggling all the way. When Meghan came into view she ducked behind Stacey. Stacey said, "Dani don't hide behind me, I told you not too but you did anyway. I know it may be fun and even though Meghan does look like a drown rat…..you know she's not a morning person at 11:45." Meghan glared at Stacey for saying this.

"Now, Dani we are both here now. So what's this news of yours?" Stacey asked taking the attention from Meghan. Meghan sat down and made herself a bowl of lucky charms while looking at Dani (yeah, she's talented like that).

Before Dani could start Meghan spoke, "You know you could have just shaken me, I would have woke up." At this Dani's eyebrows rose and she looked at Stacey who snorted into her coffee.

"What? I would have!" Meghan said putting her hands up.

"Megs, I shook you like 5 times, I even played my drums loudly. You never moved. You groaned at me that's it. Anyway back to my news. Tre called me this morning," Dani smiled even more, "and he asked me to have dinner with him at his house tonight."

"Oh my goodness Dani, that's great. You always had a thing for Tre Cool. I always thought it was because he played the drums. You always think drummers are hot. Now you'll actually get to know him for him." Meghan said sarcastically even though she was really happy for her friend.

"That's so great Dani, I could tell last night when we were coming back from the restaurant that you two had something forming. I hope it works out for you. You need a good guy especially after what my brother did to you." Stacey still felt a little guilty for what Kevin had done to her friend a couple weeks ago. Dani reached over and squeezed her hand letting her know that she was no longer mad at her for that.

"Yeah, he said he was going to be here at 5:00." Dani said as she looked around at the apartment. "Oh god, this place is a mess. We have got to clean." By this time it was 12:15.

"Yes, we do but first I'm going to the mall. I'm going to pick you out a new outfit for tonight." Meghan said putting her hand up so her friend couldn't talk. "And you're not coming with me. I know your size, I know your style, so don't worry." Meghan got up, put her dishes in the sink and walked to her room to change.

Dani fixed her breakfast and ate. Then put her dishes in the sink along with all the others. She then went to get dressed. She came out of her room just in time to see Meghan grab her keys and leave. Looking around Dani decided to start small, by loading the dishwasher.

"Stace..," Dani yelled from the kitchen, "can you take all the dirty clothes and towels, etc. to the laundry room and start a load? I'm going to clean the kitchen and the living room. Will you also do the bathroom?"

"Yeah, I can do that." Stacey said as she entered the kitchen to grab the towels. She then moved throughout the apartment gathering all the dirty clothes. All in all the kitchen, living room and the bathroom took about two hours and twenty minutes total. All they had left was the laundry but that always took forever. By this time it was 10 'til 3:00.

As soon as they finished cleaning Megs came through the door carrying a couple bags. One full of clothes the other full of groceries.

"Groceries…..Megs you are a doll," Dani smiled, "I'm sorry for throwing water on you this morning."

"Whatever, go try your outfits on. I only got two, limited income and all. You'll see what goes with what." Meghan handed her the bag and waved her off toward her room.

She reached her room and shut the door. The first outfit she pulled out had a pink misfits t-shirt, with a white jacket with different colored stars (they kind of matched her tattoos. She has three small stars black, pink, and green behind and a little lower than her left ear.), and light blue jeans. 'Good thing I like pink.' She thought.

She then pulled a shoebox out of the bag. Opening it she found a pair of skater shoes that were black, pink and white, they also had black and pink shoelaces. "I like these." She said out loud.

Dani looked at the second outfit which consisted of a black t-shirt with 'My Chemical Romance' written on it in red lettering. It was accompanied with a little black skirt. 'She got me a skirt, definitely not wearing the skirt tonight. I'm not easy.' She thought. Dani stared at the outfits and decided on the jacket, blue jeans and the black t-shirt. She put the other in her closet.

Dani finished straightening her room. Along with trying on the clothes and cleaning it was finally 4:30. She put the final touches to her room and went and took a shower with took her 20 minutes.

After her shower, Dani checked over the apartment. She ran around like a chicken with her head cut off, not noticing that Tre would be there in 10 minutes.

"Is everything clean? I don't want him thinking I'm a slob." She said still running around frantic.

"Dani, everything is spotless, you on the other hand should be dressed and have makeup on already. He'll be here in like….," Megs stopped to look at her watch, "ten minutes."

"Oh, Shit!" Dani's eyes got huge and she ran into her room and began tearing her closet apart (throwing clothes everywhere) looking for an outfit.

"Ummmm….Dani isn't this the outfit you planned to where?" Stacey said pointing to the doorknob where her clothes were indeed hanging.

"Yeah, thanks. What would I do without you guys?" Dani grabbed the clothes, turning and looking at her room she thought 'Well it was clean.' She walked into the bathroom to change.

It was 5:00 on the dot when the doorbell rang; Dani was halfway through putting her makeup on. She yelled "Will one of you get that it's probably Tre."

Meghan got up from the couch and opened the door. "Hey Tre, come on in she's still getting ready. She's running a little late, and she's extremely nervous." She said this loud enough for Dani to hear.

"Megs, you are so dead to me now." Dani said walking into the living room. "Hey Tre," She said shyly, not really wanting to admit she was nervous.

"Hi!" Tre said breathlessly. 'Man, she's beautiful.' He thought. "So are you ready?"

"Yeah let's go!" Dani said. She waved to the girls as she walked out. They got into his car and started toward his house.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Date Finally!

The drive to Tre's house was made in comfortable silence. Dani looked out the window watching the houses go by. Tre gripped the steering wheel nervously. Every once in a while he would sneak a glance at Dani.

Eventually they arrived at his house. Tre got out first and ran around the front of the car. He then comically jumped in front of Dani's door opening it for her slowly.

Dani stepped out and looked at Tre's house. It wasn't too big but it wasn't small either. You could tell he had spent quite a bit on it. (But that's beside the point.) When they walked through the front door Dani could tell that his son, Frankito, had been there recently. The house was scattered with toys.

"Sorry about the mess." Tre apologized looking around the room. He winced. The toys stretched from the front room to the kitchen.

"Tre, sweeties don't worry about it. You have children, a young child; your house will never be clean. Not the way you want it anyway." Dani saw Tre visibly relax. She smiled at him.

"So how is Frankito?" Dani loved kids; she always hoped to have her own. She was glad she didn't have any yet. But she was definitely ready. She just had to find the right guy.

"Frankito is doing well. He was here earlier today before I went to Mike's. He really wanted to meet you but Claudia wouldn't let him stay." Tre walked around the room picking up the toys and putting them in the toy box as he talked.

"Hey that's fine. She's a mother. She just worries about her son meeting strange women." Dani reassured him as she began to help him pick up the toys.

"You don't have to help me you know." Tre tried to keep her from picking up the toys. As she continued to pick them up anyway he began to chase her.

Dani screeched and giggled as she ran away from Tre. Turning into the kitchen she realized she just backed herself into a corner. She turned around quickly coming face to face with Tre. Her face was flushed from running and her eyes were smiling. She couldn't remember the last time she was this happy.

Tre leaned in and asked her "How bout a semi tour?" He put the last of the toys into the toy bin and turned back to her.

"A tour would be great, but haven't you had a bunch of those already?" She asked looking seriously. Tre looked at her with a concerned look on his face until she started to laugh. "Just kidding, now I will know where you sleep. I can now begin to stalk you." She then switched to an innocent look which by now Tre didn't buy it.

"I don't think I would mind you stalking me. , now Billie Joe and Mike on the other hand are two different stories." Surprised by this answer Dani couldn't reply. Continuing Tre said, "Anyway as you can tell this is the living room and that's the kitchen. Bathroom is down the hall." He pointed to each room.

Tre began walking to a set of stairs that looked kind of steep. He was a quarter of the way up before he turned around to see if Dani was following him. "Are you coming?"

Dani was pulled out of reverie by Tre's question. "Yeah, sorry." She walked up the stairs carefully. 'He's got a cute butt, I like watching him walk away. But I hate watching him leave.' Dani thought with a little blush that Tre failed to notice.

He showed her his room, his son's room which was very messy, and the guest room. The only room he didn't show her was the music room. He planned on showing her that later.

By now it was after 6:00. Both were getting hungry.  
"I know that I invited you for dinner, but I can't cook. Would you like to order out?" He asked walking into the living room.

"Yeah, that sounds great. I've been craving Chinese if you want that." Dani replied.  
"That's fine what do you want?" Tre began digging through the end table looking for menus.  
"Pork fried rice. That is a lot of menus. I'm guessing you eat out a lot?" Dani watched as he flipped through all the menus pulling out the Chinese restaurants.

"Yeah I do unless I have a beautiful girl to cook for me." He smirked at her hoping that she would get his little jibe.

"Ha, you're out of luck there. I can't cook either. I mean I can make a few dishes but not many. If I try to cook, I call my mother for the recipe." Dani replied truthfully.

Tre went to the phone and began to order. While he was ordering Dani looked around the living room. She spotted a guitar propped up in the corner. She walked over and picked it up. Carrying it back to the couch she began strumming the guitar. She sat there a little longer before she began to play 'Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)' without the words of course. She got so lost in playing that she didn't notice Tre was off the phone and listening to her play.

Tre stood in the archway watching her play the song. 'She plays that almost as well as Billie does.' He thought. He moved to get into a better position.

Dani heard Tre move behind her and abruptly stopped playing. Putting down the guitar she stood. "I'm sorry. I saw it and thought of the song. I actually forgot that you played. I should have asked. I….." Tre interrupted her.

"Dani, its fine. I don't care. Plus you play well……….for a drummer." Tre smirked as her eyes got big and her mouth fell open.

After she recovered she thought about what he had said. "Well, mister. I've never heard you play but I hear from a very reliable source that you suck." Dani started walking toward him playfully. She couldn't believe that she was flirting with him. Usually she would be too shy.

"Well I believe that you have been gravely misinformed." Tre watched her suspiciously as she walked toward him. He didn't really want to guess what she was up too.

Dani stepped right in front of him and got close enough to kiss him before she whispered softly, "Do you have a drum set here?"

Before he could answer the doorbell rang. Dani took a step back and blushed. "That would be the Chinese food." Tre said softly. Going toward the door he cleared his throat. Tre had to give the delivery boy an autograph along with the payment for the food.

"Here's the food." Tre began to put it on the table. "Let's eat." Dani sat down and chose what she wanted and they began to eat.

"Well, I know…." Tre started to say but stopped as Dani looked at him with her bright green eyes."

"You know what?" Dani really wanted to know what he was going to say or what he was thinking. She reached over and poured herself some Pepsi.

"Okay, I know that you probably know a ton of shit about me, since you can get that info anywhere. But I don't know anything about you. I don't know where you were born, who you family is. I don't even know how old you are." Tre hoped he wasn't being to forward by asking but they were on their first date and he needed to know.

Dani looked at him and then looked down at her food. She took a bite of the chicken fried rice and began to talk.

"Well, I was originally born in Missouri. My real parents were really young when they had me, they decided that the best thing they could do for me was to put me up for adoption. I was adopted finally when I was 8 years old. My new mom and dad lived in Los Angeles California. I lived with them until I was 16 years old.

When I was 16 I thought I knew everything. I had a boyfriend who was 10 years older than me and I believed that he loved me. I went against my parent's wishes and left. I went and lived with him. I found out that he was less than perfect. By the time I was 17 he had got me hooked to cocaine. "Dani paused and took another drink of soda.

"Even though I no longer lived with my parents and was basically on my own I never quit school which really surprised me. I didn't pass but I never missed a day of school. I think that the only good thing that came out of that was that I got to find my biological mother. I found her through DFS. She had apparently been searching for me.

When I met her I was 18 she took one look at me and told me that if I wanted to live with her I was going to get help. Up until then no one had ever tried to help me or really loved me. My adoptive parents never really paid attention to me. Anyway when she said that I agreed. I didn't want to loose my real mother again. Now I have been clean for about 5 ½ years I lived with my mom until I was 21. She helped me graduate from High school. Now I'm going to college and I'm now in my junior year." Dani smiled proudly. She was proud of everything she had accomplished.

Tre was quiet for a moment before he asked, "What are you studying?"

"I'm studying music and history. Music is my major and History is my minor. I chose music as my major because music has always been a part of my life and it literally saved me many times. I would listen to you guys and the words to your songs made me realize that I was not alone." Dani had finally opened up to someone, she had never done that. Not even with Kevin and she dated him for two years.

"Oh and I'm 23." Dani added that as an afterthought. Even though her circumstances now where way different she could help being a little sad after talking of her past.

They were finally done with dinner. Tre then remembered that she had asked about the drums.

"Do you still want to see my drum set?" Tre asked knowing she was a little sad, he also knew that she would be happy playing the drums

"Yeah." Both Dani and Tre got up and walked all the way back upstairs. Before Tre opened the door he looked at Dani with a small smile.

"Didn't you mom ever tell you that you can't play the drum for 30 minutes after eating?" Tre said playfully  
"Tre I thought that, that was only after swimming?" Dani laughed smiling back at Tre. As she laughed Tre's smile grew bigger. He had made her smile that's all he wanted to do. "Do you promise to behave?"

"I promise, as long as you teach me a song, I don't care which one, just one." Dani walked into the room in front of Tre. He had his drum set in the middle of the room, he also had a least 5 guitars around the room and many other instruments. Dani saw an accordion sitting on a stool. She had forgotten he could play that as well. Dani was in heaven.

Dani automatically at behind the drums and picked up the drum sticks. They spent an hour learning a few different songs that Tre loved, and a few that he wrote. By the end Dani was completely happy again.

After they were done playing with the different instruments Tre suggested that they watch a movie as long as he could choose. He had a plan.

The movie he ended up picking was 'the Hills have Eyes', Dani scares easily and didn't realize what movie it was until it started. Tre had been hoping that Dani scared easily.

After the movie was over about 11:30 Dani was holding onto Tre like a life line. Suddenly she let go of him and smacked him.

"You did that on purpose!" She made a big deal of it even though she didn't mind holding onto Tre, she was still scared. But she wasn't going to let him know that.

"Yeah, I did that on purpose. I didn't think I was that obvious." Tre looked down at Dani as innocently as he could but Tre is far from innocent.

"Bullshit." Was Dani's only response. They looked at each other and laughed.

They sat for a few minutes in silence. (Tre was still holding her). They began talking at they same time and kept interrupting each other until DanI laughed, "You go."

"Well, I really like you they kept interrupting each other until Dani kept interrupting each other until DanI. I know it's only been a couple days or whatever but I do. I'm just a little apprehensive about another relationship. You know about my two ex-wives, we've talked about them before. Lisa to Ramona and moved to New York so I never get to see my little girl. That and she cheated on me. Claudia lives around here and lets me se Frankito but she cheated on me also. They both hurt me. What I'm trying to say is I want to date you but I want to go slow." The whole time Tre was looking at his hands while Dani was looking at his face.

Dani didn't think Tre would like her that much but she looked at him and made her decision.

"Tre look at me." Dani said taking a hand and turning his face to hers. When he finally looked her in the eyes she brought her face to his and kissed him.

Tre pulled back a little and Dani moved forward letting him know that she wanted to. They kissed for a little while longer.

Dani finally pulled back and blushed at her forwardness. Tre makes her do things she wouldn't normally do.

Tre cleared his throat, "So, I'm taking that as a yes." Dani shook her head in the affirmative afraid to speak.

They talked for a little while longer when Dani looked at the clock. It was 2:00am  
"Shit, Tre I have class in the morning. I need to go home." Dani said getting up reluctantly.

"You can stay in the guestroom if you want. I'm too tired to drive. I can take you in the morning." Tre really hoped that she would stay.

"Okay, I'll stay. I'll see you in the morning. Oh, do you have anything I can sleep in?" Tre shook his head yes. Dani followed him into his room where he gave her a pair of boxers and a t-shirt.

Dani went into the guestroom changed and climbed into bed. She was still awake a half hour later. That movie had freaked her out.

Finally she sighed loudly and threw the covers off. Leaving the room she quietly made her way to Tre's room. She slowly opened his door and tiptoed in. She stopped at the end of the bed and looked at him in the moonlight. He looked so innocent and relaxed she almost didn't want to disturb him, almost.

She walked over to the bed and shook him.  
"Tre…..Tre." He mumbled. "What?" Dani shook him once again.  
"Tre can I stay with you?" She looked at him as he finally registered that Dani was there and what she said. Nodding he lifted the blankets.

Dani climbed in and lay down. Tre immediately put his arm around his new girlfriend and the both fell asleep.

They both slept peacefully that night.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
Dani woke up the next morning, as she stretched; she looked around not recognizing her surroundings. She looked around again suddenly she heard noises downstairs and then she remembered. She turned pink at the thought of her forwardness. She heard the noises again, deciding it was time to get up.

Standing up and stretching Dani walked down the stairs following the sounds. She found Tre mumbling to himself while trying to make breakfast. Tre was trying to make pancakes, but instead they looked like big sloppy messes.  
"Damn it. I can't cook worth shit."

Sneaking quietly into the kitchen Dani decided to make her presence known.  
"Well, then why don't we go out for breakfast?"  
Tre spun around with the spatula raised in the air like a weapon.  
"Holy shit, Dani! You scared me." Bringing the spatula down him gripped his heart.

"Sorry sweetie." Dani walked up to him and put her hand over his on his heart. "But it will be fine if we go out for breakfast. I have class at 10:00 so we have a couple of hours." Dani reached up and kissed him on the lips and walked out of the kitchen, back to the guest room to change her clothes.

Coming back downstairs she found Tre sitting on the couch watching MTV.  
"So is she hot?" Dani said leaning over the back of the couch whispering in his ear. The music video playing was one of Beyonce's.

Tre looked up at her and looked her straight in the eye and said "Yes, she's fuckin' hot……..But I think you're hotter."  
"Nice save Tre. I think she's pretty. Any who are we ready to go?" Tre got off the couch and looked at Dani.

"Did you have class yesterday?"  
"No Why?" Dani asked as Tre pointed at her clothes. "Oh, well I guess it's a good thing that I didn't cuz I'm gonna wear these all day again."  
"Alrighty then lets go, I know exactly where we should go." Tre grabbed his keys and waved for Dani to go in front of him.

"So where are we going?" Dani opened the car door.  
"Well, I thought that we would go over to Billie's for breakfast. At least he can cook.  
Dani laughed but also had to agree, even though she knew Adie would probably be doing the cooking.

They pulled into Billie's driveway and saw that Mike was already there.  
"Hey, Mike's here. Yea." Dani said and clapped her hands like a little child.  
Tre raised an eyebrow "Is there something I should know about?"  
"No, I just like Mike, he's cool." Dani rolled her eyes in response to Tre's little spout of jealousy.  
"No….I is Cooling. You know as in Tre Cool." Tre began to pout as Dani laughed at him.

They both got out of the car and walked to the front door. Dani was poised ready to knock when Tre walked past her and right into the house.  
"Tre do you ever knock?" Dani asked her eyes wide.  
"Yes, when I feel the need." Tre saw the guys in the front room watching the news, "Hey guys what's going on?"  
"Hey man, not a lot?" Billie took his eyes off of the TV and saw Dani. "Hey Dani I didn't know you were coming for breakfast." Billie looked at Tre with confusion and then when he realized his eyes got big and a big grin soon appeared.

"You guys are together aren't you?" Billie smacked Tre on the back as he sat down on the couch next to him.  
Dani sat down next to Mike and rolled her eyes. Turning to Mike she smiled.  
"And how is Mike today?"  
Mike looked at her "Mike is doing great today and even better now……I have some one to tease."

Dani's eyebrows rose "You wouldn't dare?"  
"Oh wouldn't I." Mike replied mischievously. Then he started to sing quite loudly, making Adie come out of the kitchen, "Awwwe, Dani has a boyfriend. Tre and Dani sitting in a tree K I S S I N G……" Making kissing noises, Mike trailed off as everyone looked at him bewildered. "What I'm just teasing her and having a bit of fun."

"Well, Mike for one never do that again. It's quite disturbing and secondly, well I can't think of a secondly……." Tre trailed off.  
Billie was laughing so hard his face was red. Adie laughed shaking her head as she walked back into the kitchen.  
"Mike it's weird seeing you act like that." Dani was as serious as she could be.  
"Tre's right it was quite disturbing, I mean I would expect something like that from Tre if it wasn't about him but you? Who knew?" Dani smiled letting him know she wasn't completely serious. "Ahh Ha, Secondly it's kind of weird like me trying to snort sprinkles." Tre said sending Billie into another fit of laughter.

"Also Mike, do it again and I will sick Tre on you." Giving Mike doe eyes for a few minutes before she began laughing. Dani got up and began walking to the kitchen to see if she could help Adie.

"All joking aside, we're glad you guys are together." Billie Joe said while trying to stop laughing.

"Yeah it's like fate." Dani looked over at Tre and smiled.  
"Why is it fate?" Mike asked awhile he made faces at Tre.

"Well……….I doesn't really know……….It just really sounded good." Dani laughed at her own stupid-ness.

Adie came out of the kitchen and almost ran into Dani.  
"Guys, breakfast is ready."

Everyone moved into the dining room (Jakob and Joseph are already at school). Everyone sat down and began eating. Adie had made a ton of food; eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, sausage, biscuits topping it all off with milk and orange juice.  
Dani ate until she was completely stuffed.  
When everyone was done eating she helped Adie clear the table.

Dani looked up at the clock, "Shit, I need to go to class." She grabbed a towel and wiped off her hands and went into the living room. "Tre will you drive me to class? My car is back at my apartment."

"Sure lets go we don't want you to be late." Tre grabbed his keys and headed toward the door. "See ya guys in a few."  
"Bye guys, Bye Adie." Dani waved as she walked out the door.  
"See ya." The two yelled back, turning their attention back to the TV.

Mike and Billie's P.O.V.

"They are crazy." Billie said getting up and walking into his huge kitchen looking at everything left over from breakfast. Since Adie cooked it was his job to clean up. He began loading the dishes into the dishwasher.

"Yeah, but I think that she will be good for Tre. He's been hurt a lot and by the way Tre talks so has she. Ya know I kind of trust her, even though we've only known her for about a week." Mike replied watching Billie work from the doorway.

"Ya know Mike you could help." Billie looked over his shoulder at Mike and smirked. Mike walked toward him Billie handed him a wash cloth. Mike began wiping of the counters and the table. "Don't you guys have a maid that could do this?"

"No, you know Adie would never allow that, she likes doing things herself. She says it will teach the boys responsibility. I have to agree with her. She makes the boys load the dishwasher every night after dinner." Billie stood up, the dishwasher was now full, turning it on he looked around and saw the kitchen was clean.

Mike and he went back out to the living room to watch some TV, if there was anything on. "I agree with you Mike that they will be good for each other, but there is a bit of an age difference. He's 36 and she's 23." Billie was beginning to worry about his friends' choice.

"Bill you worry to much, leave them be. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders, and she's about as kooky as Tre is. They'll be fine you'll see." Mike tried convincing Billie.

"You're right man, I worry too much. Tre's just been so hurt in the past." Billie abruptly stopped talking. He rarely ever let his emotions show like that. He cared about his friends and they knew that but he still didn't like showing too much emotion. He thought it would make him weak.

Regular P.O.V.

Tre pulled up in front of the university just in time.  
"Thanks Tre…I had fun last night. Hey would you mind picking me up around three? I mean if you're not busy. My brother is visiting our mother and Megs went with him. Stacey you never know where she will be. Sorry I'm rambling" Dani stopped talking and waited for Tre to answer. All the while looking around to make sure no one recognized Tre.

"Yeah we have band practice but I'm sure that they will let me take a break long enough to pick up my favorite girl. I'll see you later okay." Tre smiled up at her from his seat.

"Okay, see you later." Dani stood and waved watching Tre drive away. Looking down at her watch, she realized she was late. "Shit." Dani took off running to class.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: A revelation- two weeks later

Dani walked into Billie's house. Since she had begun dating Tre she had picked up a few of his bad habit's the latter included.  
"Hey guys." Dani yelled. "Guys? Anybody here?"  
'Huh, someone's here the door was unlocked, but where is everyone?' she thought to herself. 'I'll check downstairs.' She walked to the door that led to the practice room. It was Tuesday and she had just got back from classes, they ended at 4:00. Tre had been nice enough to lend her his car again with a few veiled threats. As she got to the bottom of the stairs she could hear Tre banging on his drums but it didn't sound like there was anybody else there.

Knocking softly so Tre would know she was there she walked in.  
"Hey Tre what's the matter?" Dani looked at Tre in concern and shock. He looked angry.  
"Nothing." Tre's reply was tight and frustrated.  
Dani tried to think of what could piss Tre off so much. Looking at him again she could see that he was hurt also. It came to her suddenly. It was supposed to be his weekend to have Frankito, Dani had been looking forward to meeting him.

"It's Claudia isn't it? What did she do now Tre?" Tre just looked at her and didn't say anything but he stopped banging on the drums. "Tre please talk to me, I may not have kids of my own, but I have a brother going through a divorce and his wife is trying to take my niece away from him. When she doesn't get to see her dad and I don't get to see her it kills me a little bit. So I can kind of understand just a little bit. I want to be able to support you." Dani walked toward him and put her hands on top of his. "Please tell me." She tried once more.

"It is Claudia, she knows that Frankito is supposed to be here this weekend, but she called me a few hours ago and told me that she wanted to keep him. She wants to take him up to her mother's in Washington for a visit." Tre looked like he wanted to cry, Dani felt her eyes well up with tears.

"You know she's doing this because of me." Dani said simply. "She knows that you have a new girlfriend and she doesn't want her son to get attached. She probably thinks that I'm some fling and doesn't want her son hurt." Dani stopped talking as the door opened. Billie and Mike both came into the practice room.

"Hey Dani." Billie said giving her a hug. Mike did the same. Dani noticed that whenever she hugged Mike she felt calm. But it was a different kind of calm than with Tre. With Tre she was home. With Mike it was like he was a really close brother. Not that she need another brother.

Dani turned her attention back to Tre, "Why don't you talk to her and explain things. I'm not going anywhere…." Dani paused "that I know of." She walked over and sat down on a bench to watch the guys practice. She also knew that Tre would feel better after getting some frustration out. Of course she could think of other ways but we won't go there now.

Mike and Billie looked at Tre and then at Dani completely confused. Dani looked at Tre and looked at Mike mouthing, "I'll tell you later if he doesn't." Mike shook his head that he understood. He in turn told Billie.

The band practiced for about two hours. After practice all the guys went upstairs and took a shower, (not together you dirty minded people. Lol)  
Dani went into the living room to wait for them. She was watching Dirty Jobs on Discovery channel. Whatever they were doing must have been really gross because Dani had a really disgusted look on her face when Billie came into the room. By then the show was over.

"You know your face is going to stick like that." Dani looked over at Billie and screwed her face up making her eyes crossed and sticking her tongue out. Billie laughed. Suddenly her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" Dani questioned. Billie watched her closely, her face lit up and her smile got bigger as she recognized the voice on the other end.

"MOM!" Dani spoke loudly. She hadn't heard from her mom in weeks.

"Danielle sweetie, I just got a call from DFS." Her mom said cautiously. Dani looked up to see Tre and Mike coming down the stairs and both sat on the couch.  
"DFS? I'm 23 why would they be calling now?" At this question all the guys looked at her. All Dani could do was shrug her shoulders.

"Well it seems that they had some information about my sister. You remember me telling you that my sister was about 13 years older than me?" Dani was patiently waiting for her mother to get to the point. She was taking a really long time. Dani took her left hand and mimicked someone talking.

"Yes, Ma I remember you telling me that." Dani rolled her eyes and smiled at the guys, who were staring at her. The guys shook their heads and went back to whatever they were discussing.

"Okay well apparently she had a son and also gave him up for adoption. Now since they couldn't find her they called me." her mother paused a minute before continuing. "Are you familiar with a group called Green Day?"

"Of course I'm familiar with Green Day. I have liked them since I was 15 and plus I'm looking at them right now Ma. Why?" Dani was now completely confused. Hearing the name of their band the guys looked up confused once again. Dani shook her head letting them know that she still had no clue as to what her mother was talking about.

"Well honey, your cousin is in that group." Her mother stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Tre was watching closely as Dani's smile dropped and her face became serious.  
"Ma, which on is it. It is really important that I know. I cant' stress it enough."  
Dani was getting loud once again on the phone. She was also panicking. Billie and Mike now had their full attention on her while Tre got up and walked over behind her putting his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.

Her mother was now the one confused. "It's Michael Pritchard. Why is it so important?" At hearting this Dani physically relaxed and a smile formed on her face. "The reason it's important Ma, is that I'm dating Tre Cool, the drummer of the group, I told you that."

"Oh sorry for scaring you dear. I just wanted to let you know. I've got to get off, I'm at work but like I said I just wanted you to know." Her mother told her she loved her and hung up.

"Love you ma, talk to you later." Dani hung up as well. She looked at Billie and Mike and smiled. She leaned back into Tre. 'This is awesome' Dani thought.

"You guys are never going to believe this." Dani moved away from Tre and sat between Mike and Billie on the couch.

Mike's POV

I knew that we were all confused by Dani's behavior. First she was happy, then she was scared and panicky, then she was happy again. Hopefully it was good news, well of course it was, and she's smiling.

"What's the big news that we will never believe?" I asked I was getting really curious. Dani's smile just seemed to get bigger.

"Well, it really deals with you, Mike." Dani said looking at me.

"Me, why me?" Both Tre and Billie looked at me in confusion. Okay this girl is officially really weird.

"Okay fine Mike you're my cousin." Dani said in a rush, like she just couldn't get it out fast enough.

"Wh…..What?" I was really confused. We sat there for a few moments in complete silence. All of us were just letting it sink in.

"We're cousins? How?" I thought she was nuts. How could we be cousins?

"DFS called my mom. They were looking for her sister, Christine. Since they couldn't find her, they told my mom." Dani stopped for a moment and looked at me. I waited for her to continue. I could tell she wanted to say something.

"We're related, I know it's sudden, but personally I think it's awesome." Dani smiled at me and I have to admit her smile is infectious; I couldn't help but smile also.

'Dani's my cousin. Wow, now I can really tease her.' I thought and began to grin mischievously.

Regular POV

Mike was grinning mischievously while Dani looked at Tre and Billie to see what they thought.

Tre was extremely happy that Mike was her cousin, now he wouldn't have to be jealous. Billie was happy for Mike who had always wanted some of his biological family around. Something was finally going right in everyone's life.

Later that night after Tre and Dani had left Billie's they were sitting on Tre's couch watching something on TV when Tre suddenly looked at her.  
"You know Dani, you're right I should tell Claudia. I need to let her know that I'm not letting you go anywhere, and that my son should be able to meet the new person in my life. And even if for some reason we don't end up staying together I know we'll still be friends. Plus I don't think it's too late to call her." Tre got up and grabbed the phone dialing Claudia's number. He waited for her to pick up.

She picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"  
"Claudia, its Frank….listen I need to talk to you about Frankito." Tre started but Claudia interrupted.  
"Frank he's not staying with you, not when that girl is around." Claudia didn't know that Dani was listening on the other phone line.  
"Why, Danielle is not going anywhere. I want Frankito to meet her. I believe she will be a great influence on him." Tre tried to make Claudia see what he was saying.

Dani waved at Tre to get his attention. When she got it she quietly hung up the other phone. "Let me talk to her Tre." Dani demanded loudly. Tre almost didn't want to give her the phone until she smiled letting him know she wasn't angry.

Dani got on the phone, "Claudia? This is Danielle, may I speak with you?" Dani asked her nicely so she couldn't be rude. Truth is told she was the first of Tre's girlfriends to be nice to her.

"Well, since you're already on the phone, I don't see why not." Claudia was curious as to what the girl had to say.

"Well, all I wanted to say was that. I really respect you… I mean your raising a child. Now I don't have children of my own but I have nieces and nephews and I love them like they were my children. I also know how much Tre was looking forward to having this weekend with Frankito. So if you want I won't come around this weekend so he can have time with his son." Dani held her hand up to keep Tre from talking and surprisingly it worked.

Claudia went silent on the other end for a moment.  
"You know what I think I will let Frankito come over this weekend and I don't mind if you are there. You sound like a nice girl and I hope that you and Frankito get along well."  
"Thanks, Claudia. It means a lot to me and I know that Tre really appreciates it. Okay."  
"Okay, thanks Danielle. I will talk to you later. Actually call me whenever you like. I do want to know the woman my son will spend a lot of his time with." Dani could hear the smile in Claudia's voice. 'Hmmm….maybe she's not so bad.' Dani thought.

Both women hung up and Tre just looked at Dani with admiration.  
"No girlfriend I have ever had has ever done anything like that for me before. Thank you." Tre walked over to her and gave her a big kiss, which led to more.

Tre and Dani went up to his room and didn't leave the rest of the night.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Frankito's here.

It had been a couple of days since Dani had convinced Claudia to allow Frankito to come over to Tre's while she was there.

Frankito came over on Friday night. He was completely excited about meeting Dani. Dani was almost as excited to meet Frankito. She had been waiting to meet him since Tre and she had begun dating.

Surprisingly enough since they had begun dating Dani had pretty much been living with Tre. When Frankito came in the front door he was alone. It looked like Claudia had just dropped him off and left.

"Daddy," Frankito yelled as he ran into the house. Dani could tell he was a lot like his father. He had the same blue eyes and it looked like he also had his fathers' hyper-ness.

"Hey, Frankie," Tre hugged his son and looked up at Dani. While he was crouched down he looked at Frankie. "There's someone I would like you to meet." Frankie pulled away from his father and turned his bright blue eyes on her. Upon seeing her, he leaned back into Tre as if trying to hide.  
"Frankie this is Danielle, she's my girlfriend." Tre put his hands behind his son and gently pushed him toward where Dani was standing.  
Dani crouched down to Frankito's level and stuck her hand out. "Hi, Frankito. It's nice to meet you."  
Frankito shyly stuck his hand out and awkwardly shook her hand. "Hi," he said just as quietly.  
Dani smiled at him as she looked at Tre and then back at Frankito. "You know what sounds like fun?"  
Frankito just looked at her in awe.  
"I think watching movies and eating spaghetti sounds great. What do you think Frankie?" Dani smiled again as he shook his head yes enthusiastically. He was so adorable.

"Tre how bout you start a movie while I start the spaghetti." Dani had already started walking into the kitchen before Tre could actually answer. Tre took Frankito's things up to his room and came back in time to start the movie.

Dani came back into the living room. They watched 'Finding Nemo', Dani loved this movie, in fact she loved all Disney movies. She lost her Disney collections while she was moving into her apartment. After 'Finding Nemo' was over, Dani checked the food and yelled into the front room.  
"Dinners ready guys, come get it."

Both Tre and Frankito had second helping of Spaghetti. After dinner, Dani went in the front room with Frankito and put in the second movie 'Alvin and the Chipmunks'. Tre wanted to give Dani and Frankito some time to bond so he attempted to clean the kitchen. That backfired on him.

"Tre leave the dishes and stuff we'll get those later. Come watch the movie with us." Dani yelled. A few minutes later Tre came skipping, yes actually skipping, into the front room and jumped on the couch making his son giggle and then the movie began. Frankito looked at Tre.  
"Shush, Daddy the movie is starting." Dani looked at Tre and raised her eyebrows. She mouthed to him, "He's just like you." Tre shrugged and looked at the T.V. He was glad that his son and Dani were getting along.

The movie was finally over about 10:30pm and they could both tell that Frankito was on the edge of sleep.  
"Come on Frankie, let's get you to bed. I mean that is if you want me too." Dani hoped that Frankie would let her; she was already falling in love with the boy.  
Frankie shook his head yes, "Dani, will you read me a bedtime story?"  
Dani's smile brightened, "Of course, honey."

They got into Frankie's room and after he was changed and tucked into bed Dani grabbed a book which just happened to be Winnie the Pooh and began to read.

She had only gotten a few pages into the book when she looked over and saw that Frankito was out like a light.

Tre had already gotten ready for bed and was just waiting for Dani. She came into the bedroom with a huge smile on her face.  
"Your son is absolutely adorable." Dani gushed. "I have fallen in love with him, just so you know." Tre rolled his eyes at her as she climbed under the covers.  
"Yeah, he's how I get all the ladies, that and my sexy body." Tre said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that Tre." Dani smiled as she fell asleep.

Tre held her for a few minutes thinking. He shook her a little bit and woke her up.  
"Dani…….are you awake?"  
"I am now." Dani said as she turned in his arms. Looking into his eyes she could tell he wanted to talk about something serious.  
"What's the matter Tre?" Dani was a little scared about what he wanted. He looked so serious. And Tre is rarely serious.  
"Nothing, I just had a question. I've thought about it all day. You don't have to answer right now but I was wondering if you would want to move in with me?" He looked into her eyes unsure of what her answer would be.

Dani scrunched her face up and made it look like she was thinking hard. She was beginning to make Tre nervous. He was about to say something when she kissed him. "Yes, I'll move in with you. I have to let Megs and Stacey knows. When do you want me to bring my things?"  
"I don't know, we can talk more in the morning, if you want." Tre kissed her as she shook her head and they both went to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Frankito's Here Part 2

The next morning both Tre and Dani were woken by a six year old boy jumping up and down on their bed. "Daddy, Dani, wake up. It's morning and I'm hungry. You promised we would go to Uncle Billie's today Daddddyyyy." Frankie said in a rush as he continued jumping. He jumped up and down a few more times before jumping on Tre making him groan. Dani couldn't help but giggle.

Frankito didn't even notice that Dani had moved until she was already tickling him, making him laugh. She tickled him for a few more minutes before telling him if he went into his room and got dressed that they would go over to Billie's for breakfast instead of waiting until after.

Dani and Tre laid there for a few minutes just holding each other.  
"I can't believe I'm moving in here, THIS is like a dream. I never thought I would be lucky enough to have you." Dani looked over at Tre only to realize he hadn't heard a word. "Tre…wake up, we've got to go over to Billie's." Dani shook Tre. She shook him a couple more times before she got an idea. She gently shook him once more to make sure then she pushed him off the bed.  
Tre fell on the floor with a loud thud. As he fell he took all the blankets and sheets with him.  
"Owww…Shit!" Tre grumbles trying to get out of the blankets, the whole time Dani is laughing not really paying attention. Tre had successfully got out of the blankets and tackled Dani knocking them both of the bed, Dani continued laughing. Frankie came running into the room after hearing all the loud noises, seeing what was going on Frankie ran and jumped on his dad.  
"Daddy, I wanna play." Dani began laughing even harder than she was.  
"Frankie, how bout you let us get ready and we'll head over to Uncle Billie's and you can play with Jake and Joseph. Frankie ran out of their room and disappeared.

Dani and Tre finally got around and got dressed. When they went downstairs they found Frankito standing by the door bouncing on his heels, already full of energy.  
As they drove over to Billie's house they told Frankie that Dani would be moving in with Daddy.  
"You're really going to live with Daddy?" Frankie asked cocking his head to the side.  
"Yeah, is that alright with you?" Dani really wanted Frankito's approval. Frankito got a huge smile on his face and shook his head, "YES!" he practically screamed.  
Both Dani and Tre laughed.

When they reached Billie's Frankito waited for Dani to unbuckle him and jumped out to the car and ran toward the door with Dani right on his heels. Both Dani and Frankie ran through the door laughing. They almost ran into Billie but took not notice. Billie smiled at seeing how well Dani seemed to be getting along with Frankito. 'Maybe they'll make it. If Frankito likes her, she'll most likely be staying around for awhile. Frankie never like any of Tre's other girlfriends. So who knows?' He thought. He looked at Tre as he walked through the door and tilted his head toward Dani who was now tickling Frankie to the point he began screaming for his Daddy and Uncle Billie through his laughs.

Frankie's screams brought Jakob and Joseph downstairs. Upon seeing Jakob, Frankie was done with Dani, wanting to play with Jake. Joseph rolled his eyes as the two younger boys ran up to Jake's room.

Mike showed up about an hour later, just in time for breakfast was to be served.  
"Hey guys what's going on?" Mike could always tell when something was going good for Dani because she always had an extra bright smile. "Really what's going on?"

As everyone sat down at the table Frankito decided to speak up.  
"Daddy asked Dani to move in with him and she said yes." Everyone looked at Frankito's smile then over to Dani and Tre who both shook their heads in the affirmative.

"Congrats, guys that's great." Billie and Adie said at the same time.  
"What does Claudia think?" Mike was always trying to be the sensible one.  
Especially since these two people were his friends and one of them was his cousin.  
"Well Claudia doesn't know yet but she seems to like Dani." Tre replied shoving some eggs into his mouth.

"I talked to Claudia the other day, so I'm going to talk to her tonight when she calls to talk to Frankito. I'll tell her then." Dani said shrugging her shoulders.

They spent the rest of the morning at Billie's until around 11:00 when Dani whispered to Tre. "Hey why don't we take Frankito to the beach? I mean we can invite everyone and make a day of it."  
"That's a good idea, let me tell the guys. We'll surprise the kids." Tre walked over to Billie to let him know what was going on.  
Everyone agreed. Dani and Tre left Frankito at Billie's while they went and got all the beach stuff together.

It took about an hour to get everything together.

Awhile later Dani was splashing in the water with all the kids keeping them entertained, while the rest of the group talked about her, not that she knew of course.  
"She's really good with kids, Tre. I think you should definitely keep her around. But I guess you already knew that since you asked her to move in with you." Adie said watching Dani pick up Jake and toss him into the water. Jake surfaced laughing and smiling brightly, Frankito was jumping up and down next to her, letting her know he wanted to be next.  
"I've wanted to ask her for awhile but I wanted to also see how she would do with children. I mean I have seen her with your kids but it isn't the same as seeing her with my own. Yah know?" Adie raised her eyebrows as she shook her head saying she did. "Once I seen how well she was with Frankito, I just knew. I had to ask her."  
Tre watched as Dani picked up Frankito and tossed him in the water. When he resurfaced he and Jake tried to dunk her in the water. Dani of course let them think they had succeeded.  
Adie looked at Billie and smacked him on the arm to get his attention. She pointed at Tre. Billie smiled as Tre got out of his chair and ran, skipping and in the end tripped over himself down the beach to get to Dani and the kids. Everyone laughed as he got up.  
"You know Billie I think Dani is making Tre more serious. I can't tell whether that is a good thing or a bad thing." Adie watched Tre pick Dani up and throw her into the water. Dani resurfaced and spit water in Tre's face before she kissed him.  
"Well, Dani has that goofy side so maybe she's helping Tre finally grow up a little bit. But I have to say I hope it doesn't happen. I think I would miss that." Billie said.  
Mike heard Billie's comment and shook his head in agreement.

They stayed at the beach until it was dark and getting ready to close. They were packing up all the swimming gear when they noticed that all the kids were pretty much dead on their feet. On the drive home Dani sat in the back with Frankie, he put his head in her lap and was out like a light.  
"I think we tired the kids out today with all the running around. I had so much fun and I'm guessing they did to." Dani looked up front at Tre.  
"Yeah, I know Frankie had fun. You're so good with him, Dani." Tre said keeping his eyes on the road.

When they got home Tre carried Frankie up to his room and tucked him in, while Dani went into their room. By the time Tre got to their room Dani was already asleep. Smiling softly Tre climbed into bed putting his arms around her and fell asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: A child's innocence

the next morning they woke up late. But the one that woke everyone up this time was Tre. Tre actually woke up early and let Dani and Frankito sleep longer. Tre went quietly through the house until he reached his room and slammed the door and jumped on the bed and began to tickle Dani. Dani began laughing loudly, waking up Frankie. Frankie got up and ran into the room and jumped on the bed and began tickling Dani also.

After everyone was awake and changed Tre suggested that they go over to Billie's house again for breakfast.  
Dani got Frankie dressed and out to the car, she got in and they sat there waiting on Tre.  
"Dani, are you and my Daddy getting married?" Frankito asked with and innocent look on his face.  
"I don't know sweetie, I know that we aren't right now. But I don't know what will happen in the future. Why?"  
"Well, I was hoping that you would be my step-mommy. I really like you, you're fun." Frankie said turning to look out the window. "Here comes Daddy. Come on Daddy hurry up I's hungry.  
Dani laughed as Tre climbed in the car. When he was finally comfortable Dani leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, and whispered "We need to talk later. Its about something Frankie asked me."  
Dani leaned back into her seat.

They got to Billie's and all of the kids ran off to play in Jake's room. All except Joseph that is, he wanted to hang out with the adults, mostly his dad. They all ate breakfast and just sat around. Billie had Joseph go out and clean the pool in case they decided to use it later that day.

"Dani, what did Frankie ask you in the car?" Tre asked getting everyone's attention.  
"Well, it was actually kind of cute. He asked me if we were getting married." Dani blushed a little as Tre looked a little shocked.  
"I wasn't quite sure how to answer so I told him no." She decided she didn't want to freak Tre out by mentioning that she hoped they might in the future.  
"Oh, okay. What else did he say?"  
"He said that he was hoping that I would be his new step-mommy. I had no idea what to say after that." Dani looked at Tre and then looked at Adie.  
"Well Tre, I think your son is trying to tell you something." Billie said with a smile.  
They soon heard someone stomping down the stairs; suddenly Frankito and Jake ran into the room and right at Billie.  
"Daddy, I and Frankito want to go swimming. Can we please?" Jake asked trying to give puppy dog eyes and succeeding.  
"Sure guys I think Joe has the pool clean by now." Billie answered.  
"Man I didn't bring Frankie's trunks." Tre said.  
"Hey don't worry babe, I got them. I had a feeling if there was a pool around the kids would want to go swimming." Dani pulled a small bag from behind her and showed him that she brought everything for swimming. "I packed it this morning while I helped Frankie get ready."

Dani gave Frankito his swim trunks and sent him to change. She also decided that she would watch the kids if the guys wanted to do something. Dani walked off to change into her swim suit.

Walking out to the deck she saw that Adie was already there.  
"I thought that I would join you." She said  
"Cool, I need some girl talk." Dani smiled and laid her towel out on the chair.  
The boys were splashing in the shallow end while Dani and Adie watched them.

The guys had all gone down to the practice room. They were all down there playing around. "Man, I can't believe that Frankie said that to Danielle. I bet you about had a heart attack." Billie began laughing at the look on Tre's face.  
"Just what I need is another marriage. If I get married again it is going to be the last one. I want that one to last." Tre responded.

"Yeah I can understand that man, but Dani's the fist of any of your girlfriends that Frankie's in his own way approved of." Mike said as he began to strum his bass.

The guys played a few songs before they decided to see what the girls were up to.  
They walked out on the porch to see Adie asleep in her chair while Dani was attempting to put up the volleyball net above the pool.

"Need some help, Dani?" Billie asked walking toward her.  
"Yeah, please. I didn't want to wake Adie. She seems really tired. Did you keep her up late last night, Stud?" Dani had a smile that only got bigger as Billie blushed.  
"Oh my god, Billie, you're blushing."  
"I am not. We did have some fun last night. Now let's get this up so we can play some volleyball." Billie had effectively changed the subject.  
"Ok, stud." Was Dani's only reply. Billie shook his head and began helping her. After a few minutes the net was up put up and Billie went and got the volleyball.

About 15 minutes later Adie woke to Dani yelling "Good shot Frankie! Now we're winning." Adie watched Dani pick Frankie up so he could hit the ball again scoring yet another point.  
'I cant believed how good she is with Frankie. If Tre doesn't marry her one of these days he's an idiot.' Adie thought as she got up and walked toward the kitchen to begin dinner.  
After the game, Dani wrapped her towel around herself. "Hey guys I'm going to help Adie with dinner."

"K babe! Don't burn anything." Tre replied cheekily.  
Dani smacked him on the arm, "What like you?" She raised an eyebrow.  
"Okay, you got me." Tre raised his hands up. Dani kissed him on the cheek and walked into the kitchen.

"Man, you've got it bad for her." Billie and Mike said in unison looking at Tre. They had never seen him so wrapped up in a girl before, not even with Claudia.  
"What?" Tre pretended he had no clue what they were talking about."  
"Dude, you actually love her don't you?" Mike wanted to know. He had a feeling that Dani was falling in love with Tre. But then again he wasn't sure.  
"Maybe guys, I really don't know. I mean I know I like her enough to want to live with her. But love her? I don't know. I'm kind of confused." Tre answered truthfully.  
"You need to figure that out man. A girl like Dani won't stick around forever if she thinks the relationship is not going anywhere." Billie said being completely honest with Tre. "Thanks man." Tre went and sat down to think.

Meanwhile in the kitchen…….

"You love him don't you?" Adie asked being blunt as ever.  
"Is it that obvious?" Dani stopped chopping the potatoes.  
"Yeah, I think everyone has noticed but Tre. He can be a little dense sometimes." Adie stirred the noodles on the stove.  
"Do you think I should tell him? I mean I don't want to freak him out." Dani looked worried as Adie looked at her.  
"Dani, it's up to you. Personally if I were you I would tell him. I have a feeling that he feels the same way." Adie said looking back at the stove as the guys came through the door.

"Dinner's ready guys." Adie said putting the last of the food on the table. Since it was Sunday they had to take Frankie back to Claudia's house.  
Dani said bye to everyone. As she hugged Adie, Adie whispered, "Tell him." Dani nodded to her letting her go she grabbed Frankie's hand and followed Tre out to the car.

They pulled up in front of Claudia's house and Dani looked at it. "Tre do you care if I take Frankie to the door?" She turned her attention to Tre.  
"Go, I know you want to meet Claudia."

Dani got Frankie out of the car and walked him to the front door and knocked. Claudia automatically opened the door.  
As Frankie ran into the house after giving Dani a hug, Dani introduced herself.  
"Hi, I'm Danielle, Tre's girlfriend." She shook Claudia's hand. "Claudia"  
They talked for a few minutes and Claudia decided that she liked Dani and told her so.

"Danielle, you seem to be a great girl. I think it would be okay if Frankie could be with you anytime he wants even if Tre isn't around." Claudia paused, "It looks like Frankie like you and I'm guessing that you and Tre are living together?"  
Dani shook her head in the affirmative. "That's great, Tre deserves to be happy."  
They talked for a few more minutes before Dani had to leave.  
Dani got into the care with a smile.  
"That went really well. She's happy we live together and she said that Frankie could hang out with me whenever he wanted."  
"That's great Dani," Tre gave her a kiss on the cheek before driving home.

Dani walked through their front door followed closely by Tre. They both went into the bedroom. Dani had been thinking about what Adie had said.  
'Well, here goes nothing." she mumbled to herself.  
"Tre, I need to tell you something, you don't have to answer or reply but I have to tell you….. I love you." Dani looked at Tre. Tre was a little shocked he couldn't believe that Dani actually loved him.

"I love you, too." Tre said walking up to her and kissed her. Dani kissed him back.  
They both went to bed. As Dani fell asleep, Tre watched her sleep he thought about what he was feeling for her and what the guys had said earlier in the day. 'I think I'm gonna ask her."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Two Months later

Dani was visiting Stacey and Meghan. She hadn't seen them for awhile.  
"Stace, I don't know what to do. Tre's been acting weird around me the last couple of weeks. As far as I know I haven't done anything wrong."

"I wouldn't know what to tell you, Dani. I haven't seen you for weeks. But maybe he's a little afraid. I mean he's been divorced twice." Meghan told Dani as Stacey shook her head in agreement.

Dani's cell phone rang before she could say another word.  
"Hello?"  
"Hey cuz." Mike said.  
"Hey, what's going on?" Dani smiled. She mouthed to the girls "It's Mike."  
"Nothing I was just wondering if you wanted to go to lunch with me and maybe hang out." Mike wasn't sure if she would want to go or not.  
"Yeah, sure that sounds like fun. I'll be at Stacey's if you want to pick me up." Dani smiled at Stacey.  
"I'll be right over." Mike and Dani both hung up.

Twenty minutes later Mike showed up and whisked Dani away. They decided to go to a little café up the road.  
As Mike drove he noticed that Dani was uncommonly quite. Usually he couldn't get her to shut up.  
"What's wrong Dani?" Mike asked parking the car.  
Sighing Dani responded, "Nothing really."  
"There's something wrong." Mike just sat there waiting.  
"Tre's been acting weird lately." Dani looked at Mike with a sad look on her face.  
They got out of the car and walked into the café. They sat down and order their food.  
"What has he been doing?" Mike asked quietly hoping it wasn't something stupid on Tre's part.  
"Well, it's like he's been pulling away from me lately. I don't understand why." Dani said taking a sip of her cappuccino.

"Well, what's happened recently?" Mike just looked at her while she thought.  
"About a month or so ago I told Tre that I love him. He said he loved me too, and you already know that we live together. And of course that whole Frankie wanting us married thing." Dani said. "That's about it. Nothing else extraordinary has happened."

"I think that maybe that even though Tre loves you, he's still afraid of getting hurt. He's been hurt a lot by a bunch of different people, who said they loved him." Mike said.  
"He knows I won't hurt him. I could never do that. I've been hurt before. I mean I may not be that old but I know what hurt feels like." Dani sighed looking at Mike sadly.  
Both of their orders were sat down on the table. They kept talking as they ate.

"He may know that Dani, but that's not going to stop him from being afraid." Mike always knew how to make sense of a situation. That's one of the reasons that Dani loved him.  
"Would you talk to him for me, Mike? I don't want to force him to talk to me if he doesn't want to." Dani asked. She looked like she was getting ready to cry.  
It was then that Mike could see just how much Danielle loved Tre. It amazed him that someone so young could feel a love like that in so little time.  
"Yeah, I'll talk to him." Mike replied shaking his head.  
"Thanks Mike, you're the best." Dani stood up and went to his side of the table and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek.  
After paying the bill they both got into Mike's car and headed back to Stacey's apartment.

_______________________________________________________________________

Mike and Tre's POV

Mike left Stacey's after dropping Dani off and headed to Tre's house.

Walking through the front door Mike began talking.  
"Tre, man I need to talk to you about something." Mike was unsure how to begin.  
"What about? Tre had an idea what about.  
"Dani." Mike stated simply.  
"What about Dani?" Tre was a little confused.  
"Dani's worried about you, she also seems a little worried about your relationship." Mike looked at Tre's confused face.  
"What? Why is she worried?" Tre looked at Mike as he sat on the couch.  
"She says you've bee distant the past couple of weeks. She also said it started a little while after you said I love you." Mike just looked at Tre expectantly. He sat down next to Tre on the couch.

Tre looked at Mike and sighed.  
"Truthfully, that has nothing to do with it. I mean I know that I've been shying away from her and I don't mean too. It's just that I'm seriously thinking about asking her to marry me." With that Mike looked at Tre shocked.  
"Tre, you've only known her for about 5 or 6 months." Mike was still looking at him wide-eyed.

"Yeah, that may be true but I feel like I've known her my entire life. I've never felt like that. Not with Claudia, and definitely not with Lisa. I trust Dani and I don't know if she would be ready for that kind of commitment." Tre rambled on and on while Mike just sat and listened. "With Dani I don't have to be the funny guy all the time. I can be serious and be taken seriously."

"Tre she's my cousin…..I love her but ultimately it's your decision. I'm sure you guys would and will be really happy." Mike in his own way had just given Tre his consent.

Neither knew that Dani had come home from Stacey's or that she was in the kitchen and could hear every word they were saying. After hearing what the two men had talked about she began to do a happy dance silently. She had hoped that Tre would ask her.

But would he?


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Proposal Part 1

Two weeks had past since Dani had overheard Mike and Tre talking. She kept waiting for Tre to pop the question but he never did. She was beginning to doubt what she had heard.

Dani and Tre had gone over to Billie's house once again. The guys were downstairs practicing. They had a concert in San Francisco that night, so they were going to practice then leave for the concert.

Tre came upstairs and found the girls in the front room talking.  
"Hey Dani can I borrow your phone? I left mine at home." Dani looked at him and handed him her phone.  
"Who ya gonna call?" Her curious nature always won out. Or you could call it nosey.  
"Claudia…well I'm actually calling Frankie. I need to ask him a question." Tre said as he walked outside by the pool.

As he dialed Claudia's number he kept an eye on Dani as he paced. It began to ring as he waited for her to pick up.  
"Hello?"  
"Hey Claudia, It's Frank. Can I talk to Frankie?" Tre was hoping his son would be happy.  
"Yeah sure, what's it about? If I can ask?" Claudia's curiosity was definitely peaked.  
"Well, tonight at the concert I was thinking about asking Danielle to marry me but I wanted to make sure Frankie was okay with it." Tre waited in silence.  
"Frankie loves Danielle. All he does after coming home from your house is what Danielle and him did, Danielle this, Danielle that. He loves her. If I didn't know any better I would be jealous. Anyway he's right here by the phone hold on." Tre heard Claudia tell Frankie who was on the phone for him.

"Daddy!" Frankie said with excitement.  
"Hey, son. I have an important question and I want you to answer me truthfully. Okay." Tre asked him.  
"Okie Dokie." His son answered.

"Okay, what would you think if tonight at the concert I asked Dani to be your step-mommy? Would you like that?" Tre waited on his son.  
After a few moments of silence a tiny voice came back on the line.  
"Really Daddy. Dani would be my step-mommy?"  
"Yeah Frankie Dani would be your step-mommy." Tre said smiling.  
"YES" Frankie yelled into the phone. You could hear that he dropped the phone and scrambled to pick it back up.  
"Okay let me talk to your mom." Claudia got back on the phone laughing.  
I think he's really excited about that. He wants to go to the concert now. If it's alright can I bring him over now? I'm getting ready to leave the house anyway." Claudia was looking forward to sometime by herself.  
"Yeah, can you bring him over to Billie's? We're all here now and going to leave from here. Oh, and can you tell Frankie not to say anything about what we discussed, especially not Dani." Tre asked.  
"Sure thing." Claudia hung up telling Frankito to get his things together.

Tre smiled as he hung up and walked back through the kitchen to the living room.  
"Thanks babe," He said as he gave Dani back her phone. He gave her a kiss and walked back downstairs.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Downstairs in the practice room.

Tre walked into the practice room and looked at the guys. "Well, it looks like it's on. Frankie's gonna be there too."  
"Awesome man, we need to get our shit together and get to San Francisco." Billie said as he grabbed his guitar. Mike followed suit by grabbing his bass, all the guys then walked out of the room and headed toward the van.

A few minutes after the guys left Claudia showed up with Frankie. Dani looked out the window and saw Frankie running to the front of the house.  
Just as Frankie reached the door Dani opened it.  
Dani hugged Frankie before he joined the other boys.  
Adie was running around and getting the boys things together.  
'Thank god Frankie's stuff is still packed.' Dani thought watching Adie.  
"You need some help, Adie?" Dani asked as she came up behind her.  
"No not really, Dani. One thing you can do is get all the kids into the car. I'll get this stuff." Adie replied grabbing Jake and Joseph's jackets of the couch.  
While Adie ran around Dani rounded up the kids.  
"Okay boys, let's hit it. Head to the car. Frankie comes here please." Dani said watching the boys run out the door. Frankie turned around and walked back toward Dani. She thought he looked a little sad but excited at the same time. (If that makes sense)

Frankie looked up at Dani a little confused.  
"Don't worry you're not in trouble. I just wanted to talk to you before we left. I noticed that you look a little sad. What's wrong?" Dani crouched down to Frankito's level looking concerned.  
"I can't tell. I'm only sad because I can't tell. Daddy told me not too. It's a surprise." Frankie looked at Dani as she stood up.  
"Okay Frankie. Its good news though right since it's a surprise?" Dani asked.  
"Yeah." Frankie said grabbing Dani's hand. "Let's go. I want to see daddy play."  
Frankie pulled Dani to the car the best way a six-year old can.

**In the Girls car**

"Dani, I just wanted to warn you that Billie found out from their manager that the papers know about you and Tre dating. So it's actually a really good thing we are going in the back of the arena." Adie took her eyes off of the road for a second to look at Dani. 'Well, of course they would know after tonight anyway.' Adie thought.  
"Well, it was bound to happen one way or another. I'm glad it has happened sooner than later." Dani said looking at Adie with a smile.  
Adie looked kind of shock but after she thought about it she realized it was just the way Dani is. 'Well that is surprising. No girl that has dated any of the guys has been able to deal with the fans. Tonight we will find out for sure.' Adie looked back to the road.

A few hours later the girls and the children arrived at the queue. Only an hour until the show begins.  
Dani and Adie got out of the car. Joseph was close behind. Dani got Frankie while Adie got Jake out of the car. As the girls walked towards the doors Jake and Frankie got even more excited than they already were.  
"Come on, Come on, Dani we're almost there." Frankie said in a rush. "I wanna see daddy." Dani laughed as she followed Frankie. She didn't notice the journalists and photographers taking her picture as she walked with Frankie.

**Green Day's POV**

the guys were all backstage waiting for the girls and the kids to show up. They played through a few songs before Tre interrupted the rehearsal.  
"Guys, I know I already told you that I wanted to ask Danielle to marry me….."  
"WHAT?" Billie interrupted, "You're doing what?" Billie looks at Tre surprised that this is the first he has heard of this.  
Tre looked at Mike. "You didn't tell him?"  
"I didn't think you wanted me too. I thought you would." Mike said defensively.  
"Oh!" Tre said turning to Billie.  
"Sorry man I thought you knew." Tre said with a goofy grin, trying to play innocent.  
"Well, I guess since I know now, congrats man." Billie said.  
"Sorry man I really thought you knew. Adie knows. Anyway I was wondering if I could actually propose to her onstage tonight. Would that be okay?" Tre looked apprehensive and completely serious.  
"Yeah, sure man." Mike clapped him on the back.  
"Yeah, it will make this a concert to remember." Billie said grinning like a fool.

**Regular POV**

the boys heard a door open and close. The next thing they saw was Frankie tearing across the stage and tackling Tre.  
Billie and Mike both laughed at the sight.  
Dani walked across the stage looking around in awe. She had always wondered what it would be like to be on the other side. On the stage instead in front of the stage. A face in the crowd. She continued walking toward Tre. Once she reached him she gave him a kiss on the cheek and a hug before she noticed everyone staring at her.  
"What?" Dani looked at everyone confused. "Do I have something on my face?" She looked at Tre who began to laugh.  
"No babe you're beautiful." Tre kissed her on the lips.  
"Okay lovebirds we've got to start the show. We'll see you after.

Dani knew something was up but she followed Adie and the kids backstage to watch the show.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The Proposal Part 2

Dani sat backstage watching Green Day. She could tell that Billie Joe was having the time of his life. She could say the same for Mike and Tre. She knew from all the Green Day concerts that she had been too and seen which song was coming next. She looked out at the crowd in awe. It gave her a whole new perspective on why the guys did what they do. Dani looked back at Tre and noticed that he seemed nervous.

'I wonder what he's so nervous about.' Dani thought to herself but soon forgot when the next song started. It only took her a second to recognize 'King for a Day', one of her favorite songs. Even though she was backstage she was soon jumping around. When the song ended Billie made a sign for the crowd to get quiet. Slowly the crowd quieted and Billie Joe started talking.  
"Now for the past few months I know that many of you have probably heard that my man Tre here has a new girlfriend……well," Billie paused for dramatic effect. "I'll just let Tre tell you. Tre, get your ass down here." Billie turned to see Tre still sitting behind his drums. Suddenly Tre came from behind the drums stumbling and tripping over himself, acting like his normal self. Reaching Billie he took the microphone.  
"Sorry girls...the Mr. Cool is taken once again." Tre said dramatically. "But I want all of you to know that this girl is amazing, and she's a great person and a great friend and girlfriend. Would you people like to meet her?" Tre turned to look at Dani off to the side. She was half hidden by curtains. Dani was shaking her head as Adie came behind her.  
"Dani, babe come on out here please." Tre looked nervous once again. Dani hesitated until she felt Adrienne's hand on her back pushing her forward and onstage. Dani walked the rest of the way to Tre looking extremely confused.

"Now this is Danielle Lopes and she is in fact Tre's girlfriend and Tre has a very important question." Billie said. As soon as he said that the crowd fell absolutely silent.  
At that moment Tre got down on one knee. Dani's eyes by now had gotten really big. "Dani, you know that we haven't known each other for an extremely long time but you make me happy and I couldn't imagine my life without you. Would you marry me?" Tre asked. Dani had begun to cry while he was talking. With tears streaming down her face she shook her head yes.

Billie was still standing by a microphone leaned in and said, "Dani babe, we can't hear you." He smiled as she looked up at him in surprise. She had completely forgotten where she was. Dani looked back at Tre and said "Yes," loudly. Tre slipped the engagement ring on her finger and stood up. Dani laughed and hugged Tre. As she hugged Tre she felt something run into the back of her legs and hug them. She could hear the girls in the audience awwwing so she assumed that it was Frankito. She looked behind her after letting go of Tre and saw Frankito. She picked him up and gave him a huge hug before she kissed Tre once more.

Dani knew they had to get back to the show so she kissed Tre one last time and carried Frankie backstage to watch the rest of the show. Adie was waiting for her with a big smile. "Welcome to the family, officially." She said giving Danielle a hug. Danielle hugged her back the best she could, as she was still holding Frankie. Dani put him down so she could look at her ring.

An hour later the show was over and the guys were walking off stage. Tre was the first through the curtains. Dani rushed up to Tre and jumped on him and kissed him. At that moment she didn't care that he was all sweaty. All she knew was that she loved this man holding her. "I love you, Tre." She whispered to him.

**Mike's POV**

I had never seen Tre as happy as he is right now. When he first said he was gonna ask her to marry him, I thought he was crazy. But seeing this now I know he's not crazy. She's crazy about him. I'm glad that my cousin has found someone. They both found someone.  
Oh god I'm related to Tre now. Jeez.

**Regular POV**

Mike and Billie hugged Dani before heading to the showers. After the guys took showers and were all nice and clean it was time to go home.  
Billie rode home with Adie and the boys, while Mike had to put up with Tre, Dani and Frankito. In the car Tre made sure he sat in the back with Dani and Frankie.  
Halfway home Dani had fallen asleep on Tre's shoulder while Frankie had fallen asleep on Dani's lap.

"Tre man, I'm really happy for you. You did well this time. Just don't forget she's my cousin and I will hurt you if you hurt her." Mike whispered from the front.  
"Yeah, I know. She's great and she puts up with all of my shit. So I know she loves me. Plus she's great with Frankie." Tre laughed a little but Mike could tell he was serious.

When they got back to Oakland Mike pulled up in front of Claudia's and woke Frankie. He then took him to the front door where Claudia met him.  
"Where are Tre and Dani?" Claudia asked.  
"They're asleep in the car." Mike replied as he handed Frankie over to her. Claudia took Frankie inside as Mike headed back to the car. Then he headed for Tre's house. Soon he was pulling up to Tre's front door. He turned and looked at the other two adults sound asleep. He shook Tre to wake him letting him know they were there.

Tre didn't want to wake Dani so he picked her up and carried her into the house. Halfway to the bedroom Dani woke up but let Tre carry her. Once in the bedroom Dani let him know that she was awake.  
Dani kissed Tre and sighed, "I love you so much, Tre." She smiled and looked at her hand and then back at him. She kissed him once more.  
"I love you too, Dani." Tre said as he kissed her back.  
Neither of them came out of the bedroom the rest of the night or half of the next day.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Pleasant Surprise Part one

it was a few weeks after Tre had proposed and Dani decided that it was time to plan her wedding. She knew that she had to call her mother and give her the news.  
She dialed the number and waited for it to ring and he mother to pick up.  
"Hello." Dana answered.  
"Mom, its Danielle."  
"Dani sweetie, its been so long since I'd last heard form you I was beginning to get worried."  
"I'm sorry, mom. I've had a lot going on. I don't even know where to start. But first when can you get a flight to Oakland?" Dani was nervously biting her nails.  
"Well, as soon as you need me I guess. I've taken my vacation day from work so I'm off for the next month." Dana wondered what was wrong with her daughter that she wanted her in Oakland so quick.  
"Is something wrong dear?" Dana asked.  
"No, mom actually just the opposite." Dani smiled knowing her mother would be very surprised.  
"So could you be here in a couple of days?" Dani asked not hinting to anything.  
"Sure, honey but what's going on?" Dana was really confused now.  
"Well, mom I'm getting married!" Dani was excited but stayed quiet for a few moments.  
"Not to that Kevin boy I hope." Dana replied after a few moments.  
"Oh, no mom, we broke up ages ago. Remember last time we talked and you told me Mike was my cousin? Well, then I told you that I was dating Tre Cool off of Green Day the same band Mike's in. Well, I'm marrying him." Dani was by now grinning madly.  
"That's a little soon don't you think dear?" Dana asked. This was definitely not what Dani wanted to hear.  
"That's the funny thing mom, I don't. I mean it took me what two years to figure out that Kevin was cheating on me and wasn't the one for me. But when I met Tre I just knew. I knew he was the one. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. Mike is his best friend, mom, and he approves."  
Dani waited for her mother to say something when she didn't Dani continued.  
"Mom, he makes me happy. I love him and I know that he loves me. He respects me and doesn't make me feel like he only chose me because I'm pretty. He loves all of me not just part of me. He makes me feel whole again. I haven't felt that way in a long time." Dani sighed trying to make her mom understand.

"Okay, dear, Okay. I trust your judgment but I will be meeting this boy in two days. So I won't say anything until then. But right now I've got to get off of the phone. So I'll see you in a couple days. Love you honey." Dana said.  
" Love you too, mom." Dani looked up seeing Tre as she hung up.

"What's going on babe?" Tre asked sitting down on the couch. He looked on the coffee table and saw bridesmaid magazines and bridal books and planners.  
"Nothing much, I'm just waiting on Stacey and Megan to get here so I can tell them the news and we can start planning." Dani replied sitting next to Tre and cuddling him.  
"Who were you talking too?" Tre kissed her on the head.  
"My mother, I told her we're getting married. She'll be here in a couple of days. So is it alright if she uses the guestroom?" She looked up at him giving puppy eyes she knew he couldn't resist.  
"You don't have to look at me like that, you know. You live here too. Of course she can use the guestroom that's what it's for………..guests." Tre smiled as she hit him.

"I asked Adie if she wanted to be your maid of honor like you wanted. I don't ever want to do that again. It was weird. I asked with Billie and Mike there and she started crying. She said yes but why did she have to cry?" Tre looked like he was still trying to figure that one out.  
"Tre babe, it's a girl thing. So who's your best man? Billie Joe or is it Mike?" Dani asked wrapping her had in his.  
"Billie." Tre answered.

This is what Dani enjoyed the most just sitting with Tre doing whatever. It wasn't always serious of course it almost never was with Tre. But she loved it nonetheless. Their few minutes of quiet was ruined by the front door opening and closing. Dani looked at the front door seeing Stacey, Megan and Derek.

"Hey guys. I have news." Dani said looking at Tre. "Well, we have news."  
"YOU'RE PREGNATE!" Derek yelled. Everyone looked at him while Dani laughed.  
"Ummmmm…….not that I know of. No. I was gonna say we're getting married." Dani replied with a big smile. Both the girls screamed and Derek tripped over the coffee table trying to hug his sister. He then shook Tre's hand.  
"So do you two want to be my bridesmaids?" Dani asked hoping that they wouldn't be upset about not being maid of honor either one of them.  
"Of course." Both girls said in unison. "I asked Adie to be my maid of honor." She then looked at Derek.  
"Oh, and D mom will be here in a day or two just so you know." Dani smiled as her brother looked worried. He had a few more tattoos than he had last time he saw his mother and he planned on getting another piercing. "Also would you walk me down the aisle. It would mean the world to me. I mean Dad's dead so he obviously can't do it….." Dani stopped talking as Derek put his hand up to stop her rambling.  
Of course Sis. I would want to do anything more." He hugged her again. While they talked Stacey and Megan had started looking though the books and Magazines.  
Both Tre and Derek left the girls and went over to Billie's house.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Pleasant Surprise Part 2

Two days later  
Dani's mother Dana had arrived that morning. Now all the girls: Stacey, Meghan, Dani, Adrienne and Dana were gathered in the living room looking through wedding books and magazines. They were all gushing about a few of the bridesmaids' dresses when Dani suddenly got up and ran into the bathroom getting sick a few times. When she walked back into the living room the girls looked at her.  
"Dani, are you okay?" Stacey asked. The other girls looked concerned.  
"Yeah, I just haven't been feeling well lately." Dani said as she sat down by the table again. She didn't notice Adie and Dana look at each other knowingly.  
"Danielle, sweetie, how long have you been getting sick." Her mother asked.  
"I don't know mom……just about every morning for the last two weeks." As soon as she said that it dawned on her. "You don't think…..do you?" She looked at Adie then her mother.

"Why don't you call the doctor and find out for sure?" Meghan suggested more than asked. As she was talking Dani walked into the kitchen and grabbed the phone. As she was grabbing the phone Tre walked into the room.  
"Whatcha doing babe?" Mike and Billie had followed Tre in the house they were both now in the living room. Billie sat on the couch with Adie who introduced him to Dana and she also introduced Mike.

"I'm just making a doctors appointment." Dani said looking at the girls. She saw Adie lean into Billie whispering into his ear. After a few minutes his eyes got really big.  
"Why is something wrong?" Tre had a concerned look on his face.  
"Nothings wrong, babe, I haven't been feeling well for a couple weeks. I just wanted to get it checked out." She made an appointment for later that day. She didn't want to get him excited or whatever before she knew for sure. Looking at him she decided.  
"You can come with me if you want too." Dani looked into his eyes. She could tell he was worried about her but relieved that she wanted him to go.

A couple of hours later Tre and Dani walked into the doctors' office.  
"Danielle Lopez to see Dr. Coleman." Dani told the receptionist.  
They gave her the proper paperwork to fill out. After she filled out the papers she walked back up to the desk and turned them in. While she was walking back to Tre she noticed a couple of teenage girls watching her and ogling at Tre. She decided that it was best to ignore them. They waited twenty minutes before they were called to see the doctor.  
Dr. Coleman asked questions and did a normal checkup but he took a blood test. A few minutes later he came back with the results.

"Danielle, your test results came back and it seems that you are three weeks pregnant." Dr. Coleman smiled at the couple in front of him. He could tell that both were shocked.

"Pregnant? Are you sure?" Dani was shocked. She couldn't believe she was pregnant. She always wanted kids of her own but she didn't know if Tre wanted anymore. They had never discussed it.  
Dani looked at Tre to see his reaction. To her surprise Tre was smiling. Seeing him smile made her extremely happy.

"We're gonna have a baby!" Tre said turning to Dani who was already starting to show a motherly glow. She beamed at his excitement.

**Back at the House- Green Day's POV**

"So you guys think she's pregnant?" Billie asked after Tre and Dani left.  
"Well, it all fits, her being sick every morning, her moodiness, and her food cravings. Trust me they will get weird. You should know." Adie replied while Dana shook her head in agreement.  
"I'm gonna be an Auntie!!" Stacey said out of nowhere. "Yea, I'm so excited."  
"Now Stace, we don't know for sure. We won't know until they get back." Megan said.  
"She's right you know. We're all getting excited and we don't know for sure yet." Mike said always being the reasonable one of the group.  
Stacey blushed when Mike looked at her. She liked him but was scared to tell him.  
Mike looked over at Billie who raised his eyebrows to Stacey's reaction. Everyone grew quiet thinking over the possibilities.

**Regular POV**

A little later the front door opened, Dani and Tre walked through holding hands. Dani was still beaming which pretty much gave it away.  
Dani looked at everyone.  
"I'm three weeks pregnant. We're gonna have a baby." Dani looked a Tre and smiled.  
Dani then looked at her mother who had started crying. She walked over to her.  
"Mom, what's wrong?"  
"Nothing wrong, sweetie, it's just that I'm finally going to be a grandmother. I'm so happy." Dana said.  
Dani just laughed. "Ummmmm…..Mom what about Luke's daughter Nadia? She's your granddaughter."  
"Oh, right I'm just so excited I forgot. Don't tell your brother." Dana smiled up at her daughter.  
Everyone congratulated the couple. They were all happy for them. A couple of hours later everyone left even Dana to give Tre and Dani sometime alone.

"I can't believe I'm gonna be a mommy and I'm getting married. It's like all my dreams are coming true." Dani looked up at Tre, who suddenly looked mischievous.  
"So you used to dream about marrying me and having my babies?" Tre asked. "Kinky."  
"Oh, shut up you perv. But seriously this is something I always dreamed about. Pretty soon I'm going to be Mrs. Frank Wright or Mrs. Cool. Which ever." Dani laughed as Tre smiled at her and jumped on the couch tickling her until she could no longer breathe.  
For the first time in her life Dani felt complete. Like she was finally home. But now she had a wedding to plan.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The Wedding

Three Weeks later

Dani woke up hearing voices from downstairs. She felt around on the bed and realized Tre wasn't beside her. She felt loss. Then she remembered what day it was.  
'I'm getting married today.' Dani smiled as she rolled over and opened her eyes. It would all be worth it. Even though she wanted to cry the night before because she couldn't spend it with Tre and getting to sleep was even harder.

Again she heard voices downstairs. It sounded like a bunch of people. Dani sat up and finally got out of bed and still in her pajamas (which consisted of a Green Day shirt and boy shorts) went downstairs. Dani was now a month and a half along in her pregnancy but she was barely showing.

As she stepped into the living room she heard her mother.  
"There's sleeping beauty. Come in the kitchen and eat. We have to get you ready!" Dana called. Dani walked into the kitchen and saw Megan, Stacey, Adrienne, and her mother sitting at the table. She went straight to the stove and grabbed some eggs, bacon and a piece of toast and hot sauce. She sat down and put the hot sauce on everything and ate and ate. The girls just stared at her. Adie was smiling at her.  
"What? I'm eating for two here." Dani continued eating while Dana smiled at her.

After breakfast the girls finally got Dani into the living room to put her dress on.  
Her wedding dress was strapless and a beautiful white except on the back right in the middle was one huge red stripe from the top to the flowing bottom. There were black strings to tighten it with criss crossing down the back over the red. She decided that she wasn't going to wear a veil and she also made sure that everything that had to do with the wedding has a little punk flair to it. All of the bridesmaid's dresses were different shades of red with black trim everywhere. Adie maid of honor dress was black with red trim.  
Dana didn't like the fact that there was going to be so much black at a wedding but it was her daughter so she didn't say anything.

When they all got into their dresses Adie worked on Dani's makeup. While all of this was happening Megan was taking pictures. Lots of pictures. A few hours and a few tears (Dana) later it was time to head for the church.

**Green Day POV**  
Billie's house

The guys had woken up late. Good thing their men, they didn't take near as long as the girls to get ready.

"Billie I'm so firkin' nervous." Tre looked at Billie who just smirked at him.  
"Don't worry, Cool, you'll do fine. You've done this twice before remember." When Billie said this Tre looked at him.  
"Yeah, but I want this one to last, asshole."  
"As soon as you see her it won't matter anymore. All you will se is her. Trust me I can see this one lasting." Billie clapped Tre on the back and went into the living room.  
"You two are great together nothing is going to ruin your day unless she doesn't show up." Mike smiled.  
Tre looked up a Mike confused at first until it sunk in what Mike had said.  
"Fuck you, I'm firkin' beautiful and I have a great body. She'd never leave me." Tre said as he threw his shoe at Mike's head and missed.  
"You never did have good aim man," Mike said as he went to retrieve the shoe.  
Looking at the clock Billie made sure he had the rings before saying "Guys it time. We need to get this show on the road." They left Billie's for the church.

**Regular POV**  
the Church

Dani peeked into the church from her dressing room. She saw all the guests seated and knew that it was almost time. Breathing slowly Dani heard someone come up behind her. Turning she saw it was her brother Derek.  
"Ya, ready sis? It's time." He held out his arm for her. Taking his arm Dani replied.  
"Never been more ready. I'm just nervous." She stopped talking as she heard the wedding march begin to play.

The doors before her opened and she looked down the aisle where she could see Tre. He looked handsome in his black tux. Suddenly Dani was no longer nervous. Adie and the girls walked in front of her. AS Dani got closer to the preacher and Tre the bigger her smile got. Soon they were holding hands.  
The preacher said a blessing and said a few words before he began.  
"Dearly beloved we are gathered her today in the sight of god……" Dani began to tune him out as she stared at Tre.

When she finally jolted to attention the preacher was talking to Tre.  
"Do you Frank Wright III take Danielle Marie Lopez to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, for richer for poorer, and in sickness and in health for as long as you both shall live?" Dani looked back at Tre.  
"I do." He answered.  
"And do you Danielle Marie Lopez take Frank Wright III to be you lawfully wedded husband. To have and to hold, for richer for poorer, and in sickness and in health for as long as you both shall live?"  
" I do." Dani said as tears were forming in her eyes. Tre reached up with one hand and wiped them away. She smiled at him.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife you may kiss the bride." The preacher said.

Dani couldn't believe it she was now Mrs. Frank Wright III. Dani knew this was the happiest day of her young life.  
They walked out of the church and went to one of the local hotels for their reception.  
They cut the cake and of course Tre had to flatten his piece all over Dani's face. Dani laughed at him and returned the favor.

Eventually the night was over and Tre and Dani had to catch a flight to Venice for their honeymoon. Their entire luggage was already packed and in their car.

Dani knew something exciting was going to happen while she was gone. Well she hoped it would. Tre and she had planned it so well. Now it was in the hands of someone else.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Stacey and Mike

Dani and Tre had left for their honeymoon in Venice a couple hours before. But unknowingly to Stacey and Mike they had both been asked to watch their house. The two didn't find out until they both arrived with bags at the house.  
"What are you doing here?" Stacey asked quite confused.  
"I could ask you the same thing." Mike said as he moved to the front door and unlocked it. Walking in he heard Stacey behind him.  
"Well, Dani asked me to watch the house and I agreed, that's why I'm here. Of course that means I left Megan and Derek alone in my apartment so that scares me a little bit but Dani's important. Did you think I was stalking you?" Stacey said as she walked past Mike to the stairs toward the guest bedroom. 'I can't believe I just said that, I must think I'm so stupid.' She thought as she began to unpack.  
"Tre asked me to watch the house. I agreed since there are crazy people around here. And yes I thought you might be stalking me." Mike smiled as Stacey stopped what she was doing and looked at him blushing a little. "Still I wonder why they needed us both to watch the house." Mike asked.  
"Wow, and I thought you were the smart one. What is the one reason they might want us both here………alone?" Stacey looked at him in amazement. Mike just stared at Stacey (making her blush) before what she said hit him.  
"Oh, they're good. So do you think it will work?" Mike laughed when Stacey's mouth fell open, she looked at him dumbfounded.  
'Did he just admit he liked me?' she thought 'nah, he wouldn't like me.'  
Both went back to packing their bags, both in their own worlds.

An hour later Stacey stuck her head in Dani and Tre's room and didn't see Mike anywhere. She headed downstairs to find Mike staring at the television but not really watching it. He didn't even seem to notice that she was there. Stacey finally sat down beside him getting his attention.

**Mike's POV**

I can't believe Tre or Dani would do this to me. I told Tre but I never, NEVER told Dani that I liked her best friend. I'll get him. Maybe this will work out for the best. Stacey's punk but I can't see her going for an old guy like me. I mean it worked for Tre, me I'm not so sure.  
Stacey's beautiful and smart. She is quiet but I know that there has to be a wild child in there somewhere. I hope that eventually she'll like me as much as I like her. I've dropped a few hints already hopefully she gets them.

Suddenly Mike felt the couch dip down a little bit taking him out of his thoughts.

**Regular POV**

"Hey," Stacey said suddenly feeling shy.  
"Hey," Mike replied after a second. He smiled as he saw Stacey look away and blush.  
'Maybe I'm not a lost cause after all. Maybe she does like me.' He thought still looking at her.  
"So," Stacey started not quite sure what to say. Mike seemed to take care of that.  
"Are you hungry?"  
"Yeah, starving actually." Stacey smiled at him. 'Man, he is so cute, of course I've known this all along but he just makes me so nervous. He's perfect. I'm going to kill Dani when she gets home for doing this to Me.' she thought.  
"K, how bout I take you out for dinner and we can eat, your choice." Mike said standing up offering her his hand. 'Please say yes, please say yes.' Mike pleaded with her in his mind. Stacey looked at his hand for a few moments before taking it.  
"Well, I have been craving Chinese, but only if you like Chinese."  
"Chinese sounds good; we'll just go to Dragon Lake just down the road and eat. They have good food." Mike grabbed his keys all the while he was doing his version of a happy dance in his mind.

They both climbed into Mike's jeep and he drove them to the restaurant. It only took them a few minutes to reach it.  
Once they got inside they were seated in the back in a secluded corner. They ordered their drinks and looked at the menus.  
"Everything looks good but I think I'll stick with the pork fried rice." Stacey said setting down her menu and looking at Mike, only to find him watching her. Mike realized a little too late that he had been caught.  
"Uhhhh……..here's the waiter." Mike said trying to get over his small embarrassment.  
"I'll just have the general chicken and the lady will have the pork fried rice." Mike told their waiter. He peeked at Stacey and noticed that she was blushing again. 'She blushes a lot.' Mike thought as he took a sip of water.  
Mike began saying something but Stacey didn't notice she was to busy thinking.  
'There he goes staring a me again! Why? I'm nothing special.' She finally realized Mike was talking but only caught the tale end of it.  
"…….they was really smart." Was all she heard?  
"Sorry Mike, I was in my own little world. What did you say?" Stacey said apologetically.  
Mike smiled before repeating, "I said, that Dani and Tre must have really thought this through. They were really sneaky about it, and smart about it." Mike looked at Stacey again as the waiter sat their food on the table.  
"Yeah they were. But what made them do it?" Stacey took a bite of her food before looking at Mike again.  
'Here goes nothing' Mike thought.  
"Well….." Mike cleared his throat "….I might have mentioned to Tre that I liked you. I mean the two of us have known each other for what nine months now? I like you. I don't know what it is about you but you have captured my attention and I can't seem to think about anything else. I didn't want to freak you out so I never said anything." Mike held his breath waiting for her response.  
"Tre must have told Dani and then Dani must have said something to Tre about me." Stacey suddenly became very interested in her food.  
"What? Are you….are you saying that you like me too?" Mike couldn't help but be surprised. All Stacey could do besides blush was shake her head in the affirmative.  
Before Mike could say anything Stacey began to talk again.  
"Yeah, I've liked you for a long, long time. I mean when we met you after that concert I couldn't breathe I'm surprised that I could actually say one word to you. Dani used to tease me all the time. Then suddenly we were hanging out with you guys all the time and trust me I'm not usually that shy but I don't know there's just something about you that makes me feel like a little girl with her first crush but in a good way." Stacey just rambled knowing that if she didn't get it out she never would say anything.  
"Well then, I think we should count this as our first date. What do you think?" Mike asked smiling at Stacey pink face. Stacey finally looked up at him and smiled.  
"Yeah I would like that." She took a bite of her food. The rest of the meal was spent in comfortable silence. Soon their plates were empty. Both of them got up and walked to the register. Mike being the gentleman that he is paid for their dinner.

They walked outside to his car, getting in Mike drove them back to the house. Stacey couldn't remember the last time she was this happy. By the time Mike got them back to the house Stacey was talking to him like he was her best friend. He found out about her childhood. Mostly growing up in Missouri with Dani and Megan as her life line even though they were much younger. Her brother was never around when her father would become abusive so she took all the rage. Dani and Megan helped her through all of that. Eventually she moved in with Dani and her parents until she could afford her own place. She told him everything. Mike wanted to make sure nothing like that ever happened to her again.

Mike parked the car and looked at Stacey.  
"You want to watch a movie before bed?"  
"Sure what do you want to watch, I'm not picky as long as it isn't a scary movie. I've it up to here with scary movies." Stacey made a hand motion above her head as she was talking. They went inside and picked a movie and Mike just held her. He knew he was happy and he only hoped Stacey was too. After the movie Mike and Stacey walked upstairs to their respective bedrooms. Stacey was headed into her room but before she closed the door she heard Mike say something.  
"Stace," Mike caught her before she shut the door.  
"Yes?" Stacey opened the door and stepped out into the hall.  
"Nothing, I just wanted to give you this." Mike said as he stepped closer to her and put his arms around her and gave her a sweet kiss before saying goodnight and releasing her.  
"Night, Princess" Mike said.  
"Night." Stacey said with a smile that seemed permanently on her face.

The week after Mike and Stacey began to day the went over to Billie's house. Sometimes they wonder if they should hang out somewhere else.  
"So now we have another couple in our mist. Pretty soon we'll all be married and won't have any fun anymore." Billie said laughing letting them know he was kidding. Adie smacked him on the back of the head.  
"I'm happy for you two. You guys are cute together." Adie said. "Just don't listen to Billie and you'll be okay. I hope Dani and Tre are having fun."  
"I'm sure they are honey." Billie rolled his eyes.  
"They're definitely having fun; I mean Dani hasn't called me so that's saying something. Dani's also never been out of the country and she's always wanted to go to Italy. So they're having fun, even if they never leave their hotel room." Stacey laughed at what she just said. The other laughed also. Since school was in full swing neither of the boys were home.  
"I can't believe that they got married and they'll be backing Friday." Stacey said. "I hope they have a baby girl. Girls are so much easier than boys." Stacey smirked as she said this knowing if Tre was here he would have a great remark for that.  
Billie laughed out loud his eyes sparkling.  
"That's funny Stace, real funny."  
Before any of them knew it Friday had arrived.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Frankito and the Baby part 1

Dani and Tre got home late on Friday it was almost dark outside. Dani walked through the front door of her house with Tre closely behind. When she reached the living room she saw Mike and Stacey curled up together watching a movie.  
"Hey guys Whatcha watching?" She pretended not to notice them together even though inside she was giddy and happy for them.  
"Nothing really. It was Titanic but we made out through most of it." Mike answered slyly as Stacey blushed.  
"So you guys are together then?" Tre asked looking at Stacey's red face to Mike's huge smile. Both of them shook their heads in the affirmative and looked back at each other smiling.  
"Dani…," Stacey said getting up off the couch, "you are so tan, and you're really showing." She gave Dani a hug and placed her hand on Dani's stomach just in time to feel the baby kick.  
"Tre, quick the baby kicked." Dani said turning to Tre. Tre quickly went to her putting his hands on her stomach next to Stacey's and he too felt the baby kick.  
"Venice was so much fun. We went everywhere it seemed like. Saw all the sites. I took tons of pictures, when I get them developed I'll show you. But as soon as Tre is done taking our things upstairs we are going to pick up Frankie. I haven't seen him since the wedding and I miss him." Dani said as Tre came back down the stairs.

Stacey and Mike had already packed their things earlier in the day and put them by the front door. So when Dani and Tre left so did they. Dani and Tre got into his car and headed to Claudia's to pick up Frankie. Frankie came barreling out of the house as soon as he saw Tre stop the car.  
"Daddy, Mommy," Frankie yelled before he hugged them both. Dani was surprised that he was calling her Mommy and that Claudia didn't seem to have a problem with it.  
"Hey Frankie! I missed you buddy." Tre said as he hugged his little boy. Frankie let go of his dad and hugged Dani. When he pulled back Dani could tell he was a little confused at the state of her.

"We have some news for you Frankie." Dani said getting down to his level before looking up at Tre.  
"Your Daddy and I are going to have a baby."  
"A baby?" Frankie looked even more confused, "So I'm gonna be a big brother." Frankie's eyes were wide with excitement.  
"Yeah, buddy you will." Tre laughed.  
"Do you want to go shopping with us?" Dani asked opening her door.  
"Yeah," Frankie jumped in the backseat and waited for Tre to buckle him up. After they drove off they went to Wal-Mart. Even though they could afford a better store, Dani loved Wal-Mart.  
They went to the baby department and bought some diapers and other things. They decided not to buy clothes until after the baby was born. They had also decided to wait on finding out the sex of the baby until he or she was born. They bought a car seat, stroller, and of course a crib and changing station.  
Dani's mother had bought them a rocking chair, some toys, and a high chair already. They were all in being stored in the work out room which was now empty except for baby stuff. The guestroom across the hall from Dani and Tre's room was going to be converted into the nursery.  
After buying the baby's things they went to the toys for Frankie and bout him a couple. As they walked out of the store a photographer snapped a few photos of the new family. When they go home Frankie ran up to his room to play with his new toys. Dani decided that she wanted to paint the baby's room. The only problem was the furniture. It was all still in the room.  
"Tre, sweetie come here!" Dani yelled. Tre came bounding up the stairs two at a time.  
"What's the matter?" He asked. Dani was in the middle of the room standing on the bed.  
"I think we should have cleaned out this room before buying all the baby's things and the paint. Do you think Billie and Mike would help you move this stuff into the new guestroom?" Dani asked. "I really wanted to start painting tonight."  
"I'll call them tomorrow, its late now. Let's go to bed." Dani nodded and walked into Frankie's room and got him into bed. Tre kept right on talking.  
"Maybe Adie and Stacey could help you paint the room." He turned to go downstairs as Dani got ready for bed. Just as she lay down Tre came into the room and lay down as well. Both fell asleep almost instantly.

The next morning Dani woke up early to get things ready. First she stripped the bed of the bedding and took everything from the drawers and closet. She wanted to make sure that all this was done before the guys got there. Tre got up a couple hours later and called the guys and girls. They all showed up an hour later.  
"Thanks for coming guys. I would help but I'm a little bit pregnant." Dani laughed along with the guys.  
"That's a likely excuse!" Billie said while laughing.  
It took and hour for the guys to move everything into the other room. The girls had put down plastic on the floor to stop paint splatters. The three women and Frankie (who insisted on helping) began painting the walls a light green.  
"Dani, why'd you pick green? And trim with blue and pink bear trim?" Stacey asked as she painted.  
"Well we decided we didn't want to know the sex of the baby so I figured it was a neutral color. Neither Tre or I wanted yellow so green had to do." Dani sat down to rest for a minute.  
"So its gonna be a surprise." Adie said "What do you want it to be?" Adie stopped painting and sat with Dani. She was getting bigger everyday. (Dani was).  
"Surprisingly both Tre and I want it to be a girl, Frankie wants a boy though. He wants a brother." Between the four of them they had the room painted with the trim up in a couple hours. By then Dani was ready for a nap. Dani gave everyone a hug before she went back upstairs for a nap.

While Dani was napping Tre took Frankie back to Claudia's. By the time he got back to the house it was dark outside. He walked into the house and found all the lights were still off. He quietly walked upstairs to the bedroom, to find Dani still asleep on the bed. Tre had to smile as he walked in and covered her up with a blanket. He decided to try and make some dinner for the both of them.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Frankito and the Baby part 2

Sunday

Six months later Dani was showing considerably. They had moved all the baby's things into the nursery. Everything was all ready for the baby's arrival. Dani was due any day.  
Tre and Dani had gone to Billie's house for breakfast. Everyone was gathered around the table laughing and having a good time. After breakfast they went into the living room to play Pictionary. Dani, Tre, Billie and Adie were on one team and Mike, Stacey, Megan, and Derek were on the other. Dani's team at the moment was winning; it was Dani's turn for giving clues.  
When she stood up (which by now was quite difficult) she walked over to the board they had set up. Half way through giving clues Dani's eyes grew wide and she stopped talking. Looking at Tre she said  
"Guys, I think my water just broke." This caused everyone to grow quiet. Tre got up and went over to her. He then saw the water on the floor beneath her. Tre led her outside to the car to take her to the hospital.

Fifteen minutes later they finally arrived at the hospital. Dani was rushed into the delivery room. Tre was of course allowed to go into the delivery room with her. It was the first time he would see the birth of one of his children. (I don't know if this is true). It didn't take long for her to dilate far enough to start the birthing process. She began pushing.

All the while she was cursing Tre (hopefully she didn't mean it lol). Six hours later full of pain of both parents their baby was brought into the world.  
"It's a baby girl." The doctor said while the nurse let Tre cut the umbilical cord. They then let Dani see her before taking her to get shots and a checkup.  
"She's beautiful Tre." Dani cried a little.  
"She's looks just like you babe so of course she's gorgeous." Tre replied just as the nurse brought her back in and handed her to Dani.  
"What do you want to name her?" The nurse asked holding a clipboard with a birth certificate. Dani looked at Tre and nodded. He was able to choose her name. He thought for a moment before answering.  
"Denver Skye Wright. Do you like it Dani?" Tre asked looking down at her.  
"Yes, it's a beautiful name." Dani asked lying back on the bed. Dani fell asleep shortly after. The nurse then took Denver to the hospital nursery. Tre left the room to tell everyone the good news.

He walked out to the waiting room and Billie stood up.  
"It's a girl. She's in the nursery. They just took her over. If you want to see her." Tre was already walking toward the nursery. Everyone followed.  
Stopping at a huge window he pointed to her.  
"She's right up front in the middle right there."  
Adie gasped, "She's so beautiful Tre. Looks just like her mother. How much does she weigh?" Adie couldn't take her eyes off of the baby girl. She had her mother's eyes and Tre's hair. Besides having Tre's hair she looked just like her mother.  
"She weighed 8lbs 6oz. The doctor said she was 14 inches long. So all in all she is a big healthy girl." Tre was ecstatic.

The next day Danielle and Denver were released from the hospital. Tre drove them home where Billie and Adrienne were already waiting for with Frankito. Frankito was excited about meeting his brother or sister.

Getting out of the car Dani put her finger up to her mouth indicating to Frankito to be quiet. Dani picked up the car seat and crouched down to Frankie's level so he could see into it and see Denver.  
"Frankie, meet your sister, Denver." Dani said quietly. Frankie just looked at her before looking up at Dani smiling.  
Dani stood up and walked into the house. Adie helped Dani take Denver's things to the nursery. Frankie followed close behind.  
Downstairs Tre was talking to Billie.  
"Dani and I were talking on the way home about who's gonna be Denver's god parents. We decided that we wanted you and Adrienne to be. I'm sure Dani is asking Adie right now. So what do you think?"  
"Of course man, I would be honored." Billie smiled at Tre. A few seconds later they heard a loud squeal from upstairs followed by Denver crying. Billie could hear Adie over Denver's wailing.  
"Dani let me rock her. I woke her up; yes by the way I would love to be her god mother."

Dani came downstairs followed by Frankie a few minutes later looking completely exhausted. When she got to the living room she flung herself onto the couch. Frankie crawled up with her and lay down also. Within minutes both were fast asleep. Tre and Billie just watched the two sleeps.  
"You know that you'll have to wake up with the baby tonight, right?" Billie asked him.  
"Yeah, that's okay." Tre replied looking at his wife and son.  
"You say that now, just wait."  
"Billie, you act like this is my first child. I have two other remember." Tre pointed over to Frankie.  
"Right, sorry." Billie walked into the kitchen to grab a beer for himself and Tre.

Tre knew that Dani was the happiest she had ever been. She had informed him earlier. Tre hoped that she realized that she had finally found her home and had made him complete.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Epilogue: 2 years later

Dani couldn't believe two years had passed. She was now sitting holding Denver, who was now two years old, watching the guys record a few of their new songs. Hopefully they would turn into a new album.  
For her birthday Tre had bought Denver her first set of drumsticks. She was now holding one in her little fist and flailing her arms around. Suddenly her arm went back and whacked Dani in the head.  
"Owww, Skye girl, be careful. Why don't you watch Daddy?" Dani said pointing at Tre sitting behind his drum set.

As soon as Dani said daddy Denver got a huge toothy grin on her little face and put her hands on the glass in front of her. She dropped the drumstick but at the moment her focus was on her daddy. After an hour of recording the guys decided to take a break. Tre walked out of the booth and over to Dani giving her a kiss and picking up Denver, who was putting her hands up, and gave her a kiss.  
"How's my girls?"  
"We're doing good Daddy." Dani didn't think her life could get any better. Looking around she could see her friends and family all around her. Megan and Derek had got married only 3 weeks earlier and were in the lovey dovey stage. It made her sick sometimes. Mike and Stacey were still together but the were just happy being together for the moment no plans for anything. Frankie was with his mother but he, now being eight, took the role of big brother very seriously. Dani knew that after all she had been through she was finally home.


End file.
